Colors of Grief
by W.H. Woolhat
Summary: Harry becomes suicidal after Sirius's death, and Remus suggests that bringing Harry's halfbrother, a Squib who has lived with Muggles his whole life, to Grimmauld Place may help Harry come out of himself. An evil!Dumbledore story.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: The Past

Fog drifted among the turrets high atop the roof of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In true English fashion, it was cold, damp, and almost entirely impossible to see through. As it drifted, two figures moved through it.

The first was Harry Potter, who was not quite sixteen, and he was wandering aimlessly through the fog with unseeing eyes. Now and then he raised a sleeve absently to wipe moisture off his glasses, but he always kept moving. Despite his vague expression, it seemed as though he knew where he was going.

The second figure was Remus Lupin, and he was scrambling along the rooftop after Harry in a state approaching hysteria. His hair was plastered to his forehead with a mixture of sweat and droplets of fog, and he had to stop frequently to get his bearings and make sure that he was still going in the same direction as Harry. He knew that Harry had been suffering from a kind of deep depression since that day in the Department of Mysteries, and if he didn't catch up to the boy, things could happen.

Harry disappeared around another turn and Remus tried to run faster. That was hard when unexpected chimneys kept appearing out of the fog. Trying to imagine the layout of Hogwarts from the vantage point of the roof was impossible, and Remus had no idea where he was in relation to the inside of the building. Even so, it seemed like he had to run quite a long way before he finally caught up to Harry.

When he did, he saw a strange sight. Harry had stopped, and he was standing in the fog, staring straight ahead. Remus approached him cautiously, not wanting to startle or upset him in any way. But, when Remus was about a foot away from Harry, Harry took another step into the fog and disappeared.

Bewildered, Remus started forward. Suddenly, he realized that he was standing on the edge of the roof, and the step that Harry had taken led out into open air. He gasped and threw himself backwards onto the damp roof, clinging to it for dear life.

"I told him not to come up here," said a voice in the fog. Panting, Remus looked up, and saw Sirius standing a few feet away, shaking his head.

Before he could say anything in reply, Remus felt himself slipping. He tried desperately to regain his hold on the roof, but it suddenly seemed very wet. The last thing he saw before he dropped off the edge was Sirius's sad, slightly disappointed expression.

Remus bolted awake, clutching his chest and breathing hard. Sweat was streaming down his face and he was very sure he'd heard himself scream.

He'd been having a lot of strange dreams since Sirius had died, most of which featured Sirius in one way or another. He'd never had one with Harry in it before, though. The context of the dream disturbed him, since, besides the appearance of Sirius, it was so close to reality.

Harry _had_ been in a deep depression ever since Sirius died, and, what was worse, he _had_ been found wandering the rooftop of Hogwarts more than once. Dumbledore seemed convinced that Harry was suicidal, and, as the year came to a close, the other teachers had started to believe it, too.

Of course, rumors had started flying among the students after the first time Harry had to be rescued from the roof. The Slytherins thought it was hilarious, and they'd taken the opportunity to taunt Harry about the experience as often as possible. This only had the effect of driving Harry deeper into himself, and by the time school ended, even Ron and Hermione were having a hard time getting a word out of him. He certainly couldn't be sent back to the Dursleys in that state, so the Order of the Phoenix had taken him in at Grimmauld Place despite fears that the house might bring back too many memories of Sirius.

It had only been a week since Harry moved in, and, even though Remus spent a great majority of his time at the house, he hadn't seen much of Harry. The boy didn't even come downstairs for meals. Remus had taken to bringing him sandwiches and other things that would fit under the bedroom door, since Harry kept it locked and wouldn't respond to knocking. At least he'd stayed in the house; Remus wasn't quite sure what he'd do if Harry decided to take to the roof.

Something more had to be done. Harry couldn't continue in his present state for much longer. The problem seemed to be that no one could figure out how to help him. He missed Sirius, and there was nothing anybody could do to ease that.

These thoughts mingled with images from the dream as Remus drifted uneasily back into sleep.

**Chapter 1 – The Past**

Several members of the Order of the Phoenix were gathered around the rickety kitchen table in Grimmauld Place. Albus Dumbledore was there, as well as Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Molly and Arthur Weasley. Remus got a good look at their grave expressions as he came out of the kitchen with the tea tray. This meeting had nothing to do with the usual business of the Order; today they were gathered to talk about Harry.

"I am extremely worried about him," McGonagall said as she stirred her tea, "I thought all of this would clear up as school ended, but there has apparently been no change at all."

Remus shook his head. "He won't even come out of his room. He'd starve if I didn't bring him food."

"Are you sure he's eating it?" Molly asked with concern. Remus shrugged.

"The plates turn up outside the door, empty, so I can only assume that he is," he replied.

"Be that as it may, he can't stay shut up in that room forever," McGonagall said, "We have to do something for him."

"But what _can_ we do?" Arthur inquired, "He's been through hell, and losing Sirius was just too much on top of everything else."

"It was like he lost the last bit of his family that was halfway decent," Remus murmured, staring into his tea.

"Exactly," Arthur nodded, "And, no matter how much we'd like to, we can't bring his family back."

"Nevertheless, Minerva is right," Dumbledore put in, "Something must be done. Harry cannot continue to wander around in this funk; something unpleasant could happen."

Molly gasped and choked back a sob.

"You don't think he would actually…_do_ something like that, Albus?" she quavered. Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"These are dark times, Molly," he replied, "And, it seems, the darkness has reached beyond our doorstep. Harry has carried with him the burden of his terrible past, and now Sirius's death is consuming him. We must find a way to bring him back to a state where we can talk to him and know that he's hearing us. Perhaps then we can help him."

"If I may make an observation, sir," said Snape coolly, sitting forward, "It does not seem that Potter will be inclined to listen to any of us anytime soon. So how do you propose we bring him out himself? Little notes of encouragement? A puppet show? An interpretive dance, perhaps?"

Dumbledore's face showed no trace of amusement, which was highly unusual and made everyone a bit uneasy.

"Your sarcasm has no place here, Severus. We are here to discuss a very serious matter involving a boy's life. If I wanted a circus, I wouldn't have called a meeting."

There was silence. For the moment, everyone was thinking their own thoughts. As Remus sat, still staring into his tea, one thing in particular kept echoing in his mind.

Harry had never known a decent family. He'd been far too young when his parents died to have any clear memories of them, and the fact that Sirius had been a wanted man the whole time that Harry had known him had kept them from being able to spend much quality time together. Essentially, Harry had his only good relatives ripped away from him before he'd even gotten to know them. As a result, his family had consisted of the Dursleys. It was really no surprise that he withdrew into himself when he was upset.

This line of thought awakened something in Remus's brain, something he tried not to think about, but really couldn't avoid. He'd never imagined bringing it up, especially not in the presence of Dumbledore, but now it seemed like he would have to. It might be the only way to help Harry.

"I just don't see what we can do for him," Snape was saying when Remus snapped out of his thoughts, "Arthur's right; we can't give him his family back."

"Maybe we could," Remus said slowly.

"Are you mad?" Snape snapped, "We can't very well bring people back from the dead."

"No," Remus shook his head slowly and pushed a strand of greying hair behind his ear, "But there's always Harry's half-brother."

As Remus had expected, this elicited a round of bewildered looks from everyone, as well as an exclamation of, "You must be joking!" from McGonagall. Even so, Remus managed to stay calm.

"No, Minerva, this isn't a joke," he said, "It _is _a bit drastic, but it's probably the only thing we can do to help Harry at this point."

Dumbledore gave Remus a long, slow look that made the hair on the back of Remus's neck stand up.

"Perhaps you'd better explain, Remus," he said quietly.

"What's to explain?" Snape snorted and shook his greasy black hair out of his face, "James obviously couldn't keep his hands to himself."

"It would do you well not to speak ill of the dead, Severus," Arthur said pointedly. Remus held up a hand.

"It's all right, Arthur." He turned and fixed Snape with a steady gaze. After a moment, Snape found himself having to turn away from the penetrating amber of Remus's eyes. Only then did Remus continue.

"Harry's half-brother is _my_ son."

McGonagall gasped, and there was a clatter as Molly knocked over her tea. Dumbledore calmly waved his hand and the cup righted itself, but all other eyes were on Remus.

"It's not how it sounds, not exactly," he explained nervously.

"Is it ever?" Snape asked sarcastically. Dumbledore shot him a warning look.

"Severus, I suggest that you put aside your prejudices for the moment and allow Remus to explain," McGonagall said firmly.

Remus cleared his throat. "Er, yes. Thank you, Minerva."

But that was as far as he got. When it really came down to it, Remus realized that the existence of Harry's half-brother was going to be extremely hard to explain. A lot of what he would have to tell had gone on behind Dumbledore's back, and some of it had been risky. In fact, looking back on it made Remus feel like a bit of a fool. But he'd brought it up now, and there was Harry to think about. He cleared his throat again.

"Do you recall the last Hogsmede visit in the fifth year that Sirius, James, and I were at Hogwarts?" he asked, addressing McGonagall, "When Sirius decided that it would be fun to try fire whiskey?"

McGonagall chuckled. "Of course. Half the school ended up in the hospital wing, if I remember correctly."

"Exactly," Remus nodded, "But I was one of the people who didn't…"

_He was sitting in the dorm by himself, feeling a little strange. He'd had some of the fire whiskey that Sirius had been offering so generously, but not enough to make him really drunk. The only effect he was feeling was a bit of depression as he worried about his friends, most of whom were down in the hospital wing, puking their guts out. The rest of them were doing stupid things on brooms over the Quidditch field. But Remus had opted to stay inside until his better judgment returned._

_ There he sat on his bed, staring at the wall, when Lily came in. She hadn't partaken of the fire whiskey, so Remus could only imagine what had possessed her to come into the boy's dorm. Then he notice that she'd been crying._

_ The logical thing to do, of course, was ask her what was wrong, so he did. They'd been friends – or as close to "friends" as Remus ever got – for a couple of years, and Remus figured that Lily had shown up because she needed someone to talk to, and everyone else was in the hospital wing._

_ This turned out to be more or less the case, although Lily didn't say so. In fact, all she did at first was sit down on the edge of the bed and sniffle a bit as she composed herself. Then she turned to Remus and said,_

_ "I'm scared."_

_ This knocked Remus for a loop. Scared? What did a beautiful, intelligent, well-liked girl like Lily Evans have to be scared of?_

_ "Scared of what?" he managed to ask._

_ "Everything," Lily replied with a sigh, "We're all going to be sixteen, Remus."_

_ "I know," Remus said, nodding._

_ "And everything's…changing," Lily murmured, her eyes clouded, "We're all growing up, and I feel so much…pressure."_

_ "Why are you telling me this?" Remus asked, feeling confused. Lily blinked._

_ "I thought you'd understand," she said, "I mean, you're into school and things."_

_ "Well, I suppose," Remus replied, "But you're such a good student; you don't ever seem to have trouble."_

_ Lily sighed. "It's not just school, I guess. I _like_ school. But things are…winding down. We're not going to be at Hogwarts forever. I guess everything's just catching up to me. I think too much, and sometimes I overwhelm myself."_

_ Remus leaned forward and put his arm around Lily's shoulders._

_ "It's all right," he said quietly, "We've got another two years at Hogwarts, and that gives us a lot of time to sort things out. And a lot of things just come together as the days go by, you know that."_

_ Lily sighed. "I know. It gets hard sometimes is all. I worry that I'm not good enough."_

_ "Hey now," Remus cupped Lily's chin in his hand and looked into the deep green of her eyes, "Don't you ever worry about that. You are a wonderful person."_

_ Lily smiled, and Remus shivered at how beautiful she was. He suddenly felt like the right thing to do was to kiss her, so he did, as gently and tenderly as he could._

_ It was supposed to end there, with just one kiss, a little bit of comfort for Lily in the middle of all her worries, but just as Remus was about to end it, Lily started to kiss him back. A tingle went down Remus's spine, and he was just drunk enough to not have the sense to realize what was about to happen._

_ Or maybe he did. Either way, he didn't want to stop it, not if Lily wanted it, too. The fact was, Remus had been in love with Lily practically since the day he met her. She was the most beautiful, kind, smart, _perfect_ girl he'd ever met, and for several years, he'd quietly pined after her. _

_ Loneliness was the absolute worst thing about being a werewolf. Remus had never gotten close to anyone before he'd met the Marauders, and he highly doubted that any girl would go through anything half as extreme as they had for him. So, despite his deep feelings for Lily, he never said a word. He'd been so secretive about it that even the other Marauders didn't know, and he preferred it that way. If they had known, they would have spent all their time egging him to go after her and coming up with crazy schemes to fix the two of them up. But Remus knew exactly what would happen if he ever approached any girl, and he definitely didn't want to jeopardize his friendship with Lily._

_ But right then, with his usual common sense and personal walls replaced by the strange, warm, half-drunk feeling, he didn't care what he was jeopardizing so long as he didn't have to keep his love a secret anymore. As long as Lily kept kissing him back, he'd keep his arms around her, hoping against hope that he'd never have to let go._

_ And then they made love. At least, that's what it was to Remus; he always had the horrible feeling afterward that it was nothing more than a kind of comfort sex to Lily. But while they were there in each other's arms, Remus had the feeling that they could be one, and he spent what seemed like an eternity feeling Lily's heart beat beside him. He stroked her hair and stared up at the ceiling, feeling euphoric until Lily shifted and turned away._

_ "What's wrong?" Remus asked in concern, propping himself up on his elbow and putting a hand on Lily's shoulder._

_ Lily toyed absently with his fingertips and sighed quietly._

_ "We can't tell anyone about this," she said, not looking around. The statement didn't really surprise Remus; what they'd done could turn into the fastest-growing, most embellished rumor in the school, and he wouldn't put it past someone like McGonagall to give them detention for the rest of their years at Hogwarts. Keeping it between them was the best idea._

_ "All right," he agreed with a nod. Lily sighed again and turned to face him, and the serious expression on her face made Remus worry._

_ "I mean it, Remus," she said, her voice now holding a definite note of firmness, "No one can know. As far as everyone's concerned, this never happened."_

_ Remus gaped; she might as well have ripped his heart out and ground it under her heel._

_ "I –" he stammered, "Lily, I understand why you don't want to tell anyone, but…we _did _just…didn't it mean anything to you?"_

_ Lily got out of the bed without replying and began dressing._

_ "Well?" Remus prompted, going over to her and running his fingers through her hair slowly, suddenly knowing that he'd never be able to do so again._

_ Lily caught his hand and gently pushed it away._

"I'm sorry, Remus," was all she said before turning and leaving the room. She didn't even give him a backward glace.

_ For a while, it seemed as if things had ended there. Remus spent the rest of fifth year trying to hide his subsequent depression and trying even harder not to bear his teeth at people when they upset him. There were so many emotions vying for his attention that it was a wonder he didn't explode._

_ First, he felt hurt. It seemed to him that Lily had just tossed their shared experience aside, and it was painful that she hadn't even so much as looked at him when she left._

_ He also felt depressed and stupid. He'd definitely been too drunk when he and Lily were together, and somewhere inside, he felt that he'd used her to fulfill some fantasy he'd been harboring in his head. And now, although Lily still acted like his friend whenever they were together, things had changed. She was distant, and it was obvious to Remus that she often acted a lot happier than she actually was. He was convinced that he'd caused that unhappiness._

_ So summer came, and Remus returned home almost gratefully. Being away from school meant being away from the daily reminders of what he'd done, and he was able to settle into an almost comforting routine._

_ Therefore, he was very surprised when an owl arrived in early August with a letter for him. It wasn't unusual for James, or Sirius, and occasionally even Peter, to keep in touch now and then, but the envelope didn't sport the handwriting of any of them. Remus stared at the rather decorative script and opened the letter, trying to ignore the quiet smiles from his parents, who must have been thinking that he'd found a girlfriend and wasn't telling them about it._

_ The letter was from Lily. Remus's stomach churned when he saw her signature at the bottom, but all the letter said was, "I need to talk to you. Meet me at noon in the Leaky Cauldron on the 20th." Remus read it over several times, feeling confused, and spent the next couple of weeks wondering what Lily wanted to talk to him about._

_ Still feeling a bit uneasy, he did as Lily had asked and headed for London on the 20th of August. He found Lily sitting in the back corner of the Leaky Cauldron, eating a sandwich and trying to look inconspicuous._

_ "I've saved you a half," she said when Remus sat down, and pushed the plate toward him._

_ Remus shook his head. "I'm not hungry."_

_ Lily seemed to pick up on Remus's apprehension and sat back, looking as though she'd been dreading this moment at much as he had._

_ "Remus," she said slowly, looking down at her hands, "I'm pregnant."_

_ For a minute, all Remus could do was sit there, opening and closing his mouth as he waited for words to come. Finally, he managed to sigh,_

_ "Oh, Lily, I am so sorry."_

_ Lily looked up in surprise. "This isn't your fault, Remus. You were drunk, and I –"_

_ "But that's exactly it!" Remus exclaimed, sitting forward, "I was drunk, and you were upset, and I took advantage of that!"_

_ "What are you talking about?" Lily asked, frowning slightly, "If this is anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have tried to saddle you with my problems after you'd been drinking. I took advantage of the fact that we're friends and you weren't entirely with it."_

_ For a moment, both of them were silent. Then, Remus laughed._

_ "What's so funny?" Lily wanted to know._

_ "Oh, just that we've spent the last few months essentially avoiding each other," Remus replied, "If we'd had this conversation before we'd left school for the summer, things would've been easier."_

_ Lily smiled thinly. "Yes, I suppose they would have. But Remus…I asked you to meet me here because I need your help. I know it's not really anybody's 'fault', but I _am _pregnant, and I can't deal with it on my own."_

_ "Well," Remus licked his lips, being brought very firmly back to Earth by Lily's words, "What do you want to do?"_

_ "I want to have the baby," Lily replied, "But I can't keep it. And nobody can know what's gone on."_

_ Remus couldn't agree more whole-heartedly with that. He could only imagine what Dumbledore, McGonagall, and the rest of the Hogwarts staff would do if they suddenly found one of their students pregnant. And then there was the matter of Lily's parents. And his parents. If he and Lily didn't play it smart, there could be more trouble than they could possibly imagine._

_ "There is a spell we could do," Lily went on, pulling a slim book out of her satchel and searching for a page, "It's a concealment spell, but it has to be cast before the third month of pregnancy." She slid the open book across the table and Remus scanned the page._

_ "Wait, you can only cast it once every twenty days?" he asked in dismay, "But you'll be three months pregnant _next month._ That means we only get one chance!"_

_Lily nodded gravely. "And I can't cast it on myself, so I need your help."_

_ "All right," Remus nodded, reading the spell over again, "When?"_

_ "As soon as possible," Lily answered, "Before next week, if we can. The last thing we need is everyone from school swarming around here."_

_ Remus nodded again. The next week would bring the start of the school shopping season, and most all of the students from Hogwarts would be going around – or through – the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley to get their supplies._

_ "And we'd better do it somewhere private," Lily added, "We need to be as secretive as possible."_

_ They spent a while making plans, and eventually agreed on a place and time to meet later that week to cast the spell. Lily loaned Remus the book so that he could study the spell. They both had to be as familiar with it as possible since they only had one chance to get it right._

_ Fortunately for them, it worked, and it was impossible to tell, visually or through a variety of tests, that Lily was pregnant. The spell itself was hard to detect, and the only reason anyone would test for it would be if they suspected pregnancy._

_ Sixth year came, and Remus and Lily were able to function fairly normally. One day before Christmas holidays, Lily approached Remus when they were alone in the library, and they began to discuss the possibility of putting the baby up for adoption. Remus agreed that it would be the best idea, but apprehension began growing in the back of his mind. There was a possibility that he couldn't tell Lily about, something that could seriously jeopardize the child's chances of being adopted. So, in his spare time, he began his own research._

_ They were lucky, and the child was late in coming; he wasn't born until spring holidays, so both Remus and Lily were home and able to deal with it in a much better way than they could have if they been at Hogwarts. Almost immediately, they discreetly took the baby for a variety of magical tests that would determine where he would fare the best in the wizarding adoption system._

_ That was when they'd gotten some shocking news. Their son was a Squib – he had no magical potential whatsoever. The wizard that had done the tests was very apologetic and gave them as much information as he could on the Muggle adoption system. It was slightly more complicated than the wizarding one, and Lily took it upon herself to try and get the baby into it before spring holidays were over._

_ That gave Remus time to take their son for a few, even more discreet tests. The apprehension that he'd been feeling since Christmas holidays hadn't left him, and he knew why: there was a chance that the boy could be a werewolf. Remus hated having to keep that from Lily, but she had no clue that Remus himself was one, and it was too late to tell her; things were already stressful and emotional enough._

_ He could remember the exact words that the witch who tested the boy said, as they were such a relief:_

_ "He'll never transform. There might be other things, little things like a vague dislike for moonlight, but he is most definitely not a werewolf."_

_ Remus had breathed world's biggest sigh of relief upon hearing this. It freed him from most of the stress he'd been feeling, and he was able to help Lily with the adoption process with a much clearer head._

_ It was almost scary how secretly they'd pulled everything off, to the point where not even Dumbledore had any clue as to what was going on. What was more amazing to Remus, though, was how Sirius, James, and Peter never bothered him about where he was on holidays, since they tended to stay at the school and try to find new ways to sneak around behind the teachers' backs. Somehow, Remus and Lily had managed to completely hide the fact that they'd ever been together as more than friends._

_ They named the boy Aidan shortly before he entered the Muggle adoption system. The only thing that Lily had insisted on was being able to meet the people who decided to adopt him. Remus was surprised at how strong Lily was through the whole thing; she rarely ever got tearful, and somehow she'd managed to keep up with school throughout her entire pregnancy._

_ Sixth year came to an end, and, much to Remus and Lily's surprise, a couple of very nice Muggles – the Wintertons – decided to adopt Aidan about halfway through July. They were unable to have children of their own, and had fallen in love with the boy after only a short time. So Remus and Lily sat down with them and talked about a lot of Muggle things, trying their best to pretend that they were just a couple of normal teenagers who'd had one rather unfortunate night. Both Lily and Remus liked the Muggles a lot, which made it much easier to let Aidan go. They shook hands all around, and that was the last time either of them saw Aidan._

_ Then, in seventh year, Lily started dating James, and the rest was history. Remus thought about Aidan now and then, but as the years passed, all that time slipped into memory along with the pain of losing James and Lily, and, more recently, the pain of losing Sirius. He never contacted Aidan; he and Lily had thought that would be too confusing for the boy._

"And that's it, really," Remus finished with a sigh, "Aidan's been living with Muggles for the last nineteen years. He has no idea that we exist."

Of course, the story he'd told to the Order had contained quite a bit less than what Remus had been remembering in the privacy of his own head. They'd gotten more along the lines of "got drunk, had sex, concealed baby", which was enough for Remus to sufficiently explain Aidan's existence without completely embarrassing himself. Still, McGonagall was shaking her head, Molly looked quite shocked, and Snape looked thoroughly disgusted. Only Arthur and Dumbledore seemed relatively calm.

"Well," McGonagall said finally, taking off her spectacles and polishing them in a businesslike manner, "In light of that, I think Remus is right. If we can give Harry family, we should do it."

"Assuming that the sight of the lovechild of his mother and his former professor wouldn't cause him to commit suicide on the spot," Snape sneered. Remus clenched his fists under the table but remained seated as Dumbledore raised a hand lazily.

"That's enough, Severus," he said, "I don't see why Remus's idea won't work; as Harry will not listen to any of us, the best thing we can do for him is to try and give him the last decent bit of his family."

"You do realize how difficult this is going to be, Headmaster?" Remus spoke up, "Aidan has no knowledge whatsoever of the wizarding world. Even if he's aware that he was adopted, the people who adopted him thought that Lily and I were Muggles. They're all completely oblivious to the world that we'd be bringing Aidan into."

"Nevertheless, this was your suggestion," Dumbledore replied, "And I trust that you can handle it. And now, this meeting is dismissed."

As the others filed out, Remus remained seated at the table. It took him a moment to realize that Dumbledore had also made no move to get up.

"Yes, Headmaster?" Remus asked after a moment, beginning to feel uncomfortable. Dumbledore looked up gravely.

"Your story was most disturbing, Remus," he said in an accusatory tone that Remus had never heard him use before.

"I thought it might be," was all Remus could say.

"Apparently there is much more that I have to learn about my school and its students," Dumbledore went on, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose, "And I will not forget that you have now betrayed my trust more than once."

Remus stared. He'd never seen Dumbledore act even remotely nasty, but now the headmaster's tone was bordering on vindictive.

"There wasn't much I could do on this one, sir," he replied shakily, "Mostly it was Lily's wishes, and I, for obvious reasons, helped her."

"Be that as it may, Remus, your methods involved a great deal of deceit," Dumbledore replied, "The great part of which went on under my very nose. Now, I want you to bring your son back here as soon as possible."

Remus gave Dumbledore a critical look. There was a glint in the old man's eyes that was quite different than the usual jolly one. This time, Remus saw impatience and anger, not unlike the look that was often in Snape's eyes. He suddenly began to question just how wise it would be to bring Aidan out of his Muggle life.

"It's going to be strange for him," he commented, starting to get up. Dumbledore caught his sleeve and pulled him back into his chair almost forcefully.

"Need I remind you again that this was your idea?" the headmaster asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm well aware," Remus replied coolly, "But I'm starting to wonder just how good of an idea it is. What if, God forbid, Snape is right, and the sight of Aidan just makes things worse for Harry?"

Dumbledore removed his spectacles and gave Remus such a cold look that Remus felt as though he were being slowly frozen from the inside out. Such a look on the usually jovial face of Albus Dumbledore was beyond unnerving.

"Look," Dumbledore hissed, "I am not having the Boy Who Lived become the Boy Who Died while I'm headmaster. Everyone knows that Harry Potter goes to my school, and if he decides to slit his wrists on my watch, everyone is going to find out. If something happens to him, do you think I'm going to let people pin it on _me_? No. I want to be able to say that I did all I could."

Remus opened his mouth to say something, but Dumbledore held up one slender finger to silence him.

"So I want you to find your son and bring him back here by the end of the week. You just find out where he is; I'll see to all the other arrangements."

Remus blinked, trying to compose himself. The chill in Dumbledore's voice could have started a new ice age.

"And what if I've decided it's not a good idea?" he said finally, raising his eyebrows. Dumbledore frowned darkly.

"You _will _do this," he snapped, "For the good of the school."

"No," Remus shook his head and got up again, "I won't. Since I already brought it up, I'll do it for Harry. And I'll make my own arrangements, thank you."

With that, he left the room, leaving Dumbledore sitting at the table, seething quietly.


	2. The Muggle Son of a Wizard

**Chapter 2 – The Muggle Son of a Wizard**

Remus dreamed. He dreamt that he and Sirius were sitting at the kitchen table in Grimmauld Pla ce, drinking hot chocolate. It was so realistic that it took him a moment to remember that Sirius was dead and that, when he was alive, he'd always preferred tea.

"You look like hell," Sirius commented, looking at Remus over the rim of his mug.

"I haven't slept properly in three days," Remus replied, deciding to ignore the fact that the situation was a dream for the time being.

"You've been hunting Aidan down," Sirius said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Remus answered anyway, "And I have to go pick him up in the morning."

"Hey, at least his adoptive parents were polite when you called, right?" Sirius pointed out, "That'll make things a little easier, at least."

Remus sighed and sat back, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, Padfoot, I have no idea why I'm doing this. Nobody knew about it until the other day, then I had to go and open my big fat mouth and Dumbledore wouldn't let it alone once it was out."

"Screw what Dumbledore thinks about it. You brought it up because you want to help Harry," Sirius said firmly, "And face it, Moony, you're about the only stable adult in his life that he can trust right now. Dumbledore's certainly not going to be much help, and all the other adults Harry knows are teachers, and I doubt he'd talk to them about things. It'd be too awkward."

"I know," Remus nodded, "But right now Harry won't even talk to _me_. Which is what brought on the whole Aidan thing, although I honestly have no idea how I'm going to deal with it. I haven't seen the kid since he was born, practically. And both Lily and James are gone, and James never had a clue about it in any case. At least, I didn't tell him."

"You almost didn't tell me, either," Sirius chuckled, "If I hadn't been stuck in this house for so long, I doubt you ever would have."

"No, Padfoot, I told you because I trusted you," Remus said, "And _somebody _else had to know."

"Well, I know, and I also know that you're flipping out," Sirius said with a half-smile, "Calm down a bit and everything will be just fine."

Remus sighed again. "That's much easier said than done, and you know it. I somehow have to explain to Aidan about a world that, to him, is going to sound like a fantasy novel. And on top of _that_, I have to tell him about Harry's problems. This isn't going to be easy, Padfoot."

"But if the kid takes after you, he'll be patient enough to listen," Sirius assured.

"If I even know what to say," Remus shook his head and looked down into his hot chocolate.

"The words will come," Sirius told him, which was strange because it didn't sound like something Sirius would say.

And then, quite suddenly, Remus was awake. He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the dream and slowly realizing that he had to go pick up Aidan in a few hours. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed and went about his daily routine of trying to get Harry out of his room for breakfast.

"Harry?" he said quietly, knocking on the door of Harry's room. There was no answer. Remus knocked again.

"Listen, this has got to stop. You're going to have to come out of there sometime; you can't keep eating flat food."

Still no answer, although Remus could hear Harry breathing. He decided to try one last time before giving up and going downstairs.

"I was going to make some hot chocolate to go with the toast," he said, surprising himself a little. He hadn't had hot chocolate in years. "If you decide you want some, you'll have to come down; it won't fit under the door."

Again, Harry said nothing. Remus shrugged and turned to go, but suddenly there was a soft scratching sound behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see a slip of paper being pushed under the door. Raising his eyebrows, he bent down to pick it up and read,

"_I want jam on my toast._"

Remus almost sighed again, but then he realized that this was the first time Harry had even attempted to communicate with anybody since Sirius's death, and that made the note a feat in itself. Remus tucked the paper in the pocket of his dressing gown and went downstairs to make the toast.

Arthur Weasley showed up an hour later with the car Remus had requested. It had been hard, trying to make plans with Dumbledore constantly glaring at him as if he'd committed the worst transgression possible by wanting to arrange things himself, but Remus had managed it. In fact, the only thing he'd asked Dumbledore to do was explain things to Harry, even though Harry probably wouldn't listen. Remus wasn't in the mood to do it himself; he had enough to deal with, and he didn't need Harry angry at him on top of everything else.

"She's not the best car, but she'll get you there and back," Arthur said, patting the hood of the car fondly, "And she's one-hundred-percent Muggle, so nobody's going to notice a thing."

"Thanks, Arthur." Remus walked around the car, trying to remember the last time he'd actually driven anywhere. The car was certainly inconspicuous: tan exterior, dusty grey interior, and quite boxy. Arthur was right; nobody would notice a car like this.

"I suppose I ought to go now," Remus sighed. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable in the suit coat he was wearing, having gotten used to hanging around in his more beat-up clothes while at Grimmauld Place.

Arthur saw Remus's discomfort and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine," he said reassuringly, "We're all behind you. We just want to see Harry come out of himself."

"I know," Remus nodded, "I want that, too. I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but it feels like he's had himself shut in that room forever. I only hope this turns out to be the way to help him."

"It can't hurt," Arthur said, "Plus, Molly's bringing Ron and Hermione over later, so Harry won't be alone when he meets Aidan."

"Assuming we can get him out of his room," Remus chuckled dryly. He opened the car door and climbed inside, "Thanks again, Arthur."

"Don't mention it," Arthur nodded. He waved as Remus pulled out onto the main road and disappeared from view.

As Remus drove, he thought. It had been very strange, dreaming about Sirius like that. It was almost as if he had really been sitting there, offering his usual, lighthearted advice. Remus had never had a dream quite like it before, especially not involving Sirius. But it was comforting in a way; despite the fact that it had been a dream, what Sirius had said was more reassuring than anything Remus had heard over the past few days.

His hand trailed absently to his inside pocket and broke off a square from the chocolate bar that was nestled between his wand and a pair of old gloves. He tended to eat chocolate when he was nervous or upset; it was an old habit he'd developed while he was in school, and he'd picked it up again after Sirius's death as a sort of mechanism of comfort. It didn't help much, but at least it kept him occupied long enough to regroup his thoughts and not flip out.

The best thing to do would be to remain calm and act normal. There was no reason to tip the Wintertons off to how nervous he was, and he definitely didn't want Aidan knowing that he wasn't entirely comfortable with taking the boy for the summer. Truth be told, Aidan's reaction to the wizarding world wasn't the only thing that was worrying Remus, but he'd cross that bridge when – or, preferably, if – he came to it.

That was another thing: the Wintertons had been as calm and polite as could be when Remus had called. It seemed that they remembered him and Lily fondly, and were even happy about seeing Remus again. It had all been very strange to Remus, who had been expecting at least a little dissent when he had announced that he'd like Aidan to stay with him all summer.

"I'll check with him," Mr. Winterton had said, "But I don't see why he'd object."

And so, really, all that was left was to come up with a way to explain the whole of the wizarding world to Aidan, or at least enough so that he'd understand what he was going to be living in over the next couple of months.

Remus recalled what Sirius had said in the dream: _The words will come…_

"Oh boy, Padfoot," Remus murmured as he pulled up outside a perfectly innocent house with off-white siding and dark wood shutters, "I hope you're right."

Nervously, Remus rang the doorbell and stood with his hands in his pockets until Mr. Winterton answered the door. He was a tall man, and his dirty blonde hair was thinning at the back.

"You must be Remus," he said, extending his hand. Remus shook it awkwardly and nodded.

"Remus Lupin," he added, if only for something to say. Mr. Winterton chuckled.

"Joe Winterton; I doubt you remember much about my wife and I," he said good-naturedly, standing aside to let Remus enter the hallway.

"Oh, I don't know, the house looks familiar," Remus replied, smiling a little. The house did stir some things in his memory of the time that he and Lily had first met the Wintertons, although the recollection was fuzzy.

"My wife is in the kitchen," Mr. Winterton continued, "Would you like some tea?"

"Er, yes, thank you," Remus nodded, following Mr. Winterton down a short hallway and into a brightly lit kitchen, where a woman with long, auburn hair was making tea.

"Maria, Remus is here," Mr. Winterton said to her. She looked up and smiled broadly.

"Hello, dear!" she exclaimed, "I'll just get another cup out and we can all have some tea." She gestured for Remus to sit down at the table, and he did so, feeling rather strange.

Once Mrs. Winterton had everyone settled down with tea, she looked at Remus over the top of her cup and smiled.

"I can't tell you how nice it is to see you again," she said cheerfully, "It seems like only yesterday that –"

"Now dear, don't go all nostalgic; you'll scare him," Mr. Winterton interrupted with a smile. To Remus, he said, "I was surprised to hear that you were coming to take Aidan for the summer, but I must say that I'm happy about it."

"He's been so...restless," Mrs. Winterton sighed before Remus could reply, "He's always been such a calm boy, but now it seems like he's ready for a change."

Mr. Winterton nodded in agreement. "I think it's wanderlust. He's lived here all his life, and, at his age, it's only natural to want to see places away from home."

Remus opened his mouth to say something, but Mrs. Winterton seemed to read his thoughts and said,

"Oh, he knows you're coming, dear; he knows all about the adoption. In fact, just the other day he was asking us what we remembered about you and, oh dear, what was her name…"

"Lily," Remus supplied hoarsely, overwhelmed by the rapid fire way the Wintertons carried on their conversation.

"That's right!" Mrs. Winterton smiled again, "Lily. How is she, by the way? She was such a nice girl. Pretty, too."

Remus's stomach turned to ice; he'd been dreading the question. Of course, it was only natural for the Wintertons to assume that Lily had gotten on with her life, but the matter was painful nonetheless.

"She," Remus began, and had to clear his throat as a lump began to form, "She…passed away. A long time ago. There was an…an accident."

Mrs. Winterton put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, the poor thing. You must have been devastated."

Remus just nodded and looked out the window, sipping his tea. The thought of Lily and James's deaths still caused him to tear up, even after nearly fifteen years. He didn't want to discuss it any more than was necessary.

Mr. Winterton seemed to sense this and changed the subject.

"Aidan should be home any minute," he said, "He's just out running a couple of errands."

"He's looking forward to meeting you," Mrs. Winterton added, "And I really think a summer away from home will do him good. He needs a change of scenery."

Remus laughed shortly. "Well, no problem there."

"Where _do_ you live, by the way?" Mr. Winterton asked, as if it had no bearing on anything and he was merely curious. However, Remus had been prepared for this.

"About a mile from King's Cross," he replied casually.

"Oh, that's not far, then," Mrs. Winterton nodded. A moment later, the front door opened and a voice called,

"Mum, Dad, I'm home!"

"We're in the kitchen, Aidan," Mr. Winterton called back. Remus held his breath as footsteps came down the hall.

The young man that appeared in the doorway, holding a bag of groceries, could very easily have been Remus's twin. The resemblance was uncanny despite the fact that Aidan wore his hair pulled back into a ponytail and had two small, silvery earrings in his ears. Remus tried not to stare at this younger version of himself; the boy had the same brown hair, the same thin mouth, the same long eyelashes…

Looking out from under those eyelashes was the most startling pair of green eyes that Remus had seen since Lily was alive. His breath caught in his chest. How was Harry going to react?

Aidan didn't seem to notice Remus's presence or, if he did, he was unperturbed by it. He set the groceries down on the kitchen counter and got himself a teacup.

"Aidan, there's someone we'd like you to meet," Mrs. Winterton said gently as Aidan came to the table. Remus cringed inwardly. Did they have to act like Aidan was going to fall apart? Things were hard enough already.

Aidan looked up and fixed Remus with a mild gaze. Remus found himself unable to hold it for very long; somehow, it was like looking at Lily.

"This is Remus Lupin," Mr. Winterton told Aidan, gesturing to Remus.

"Your biological father, dear," Mrs. Winterton added, as if an explanation was required.

Remus remembered to stick out his hand just in time. Aidan shook it firmly, but very slowly, as if he was trying to read Remus's mind from the handshake alone.

"Mr. Lupin," he said with a respectful nod.

"Remus, please," Remus replied hurriedly, trying to re-take possession of his hand. Aidan let go as if he hadn't noticed and sat down, pouring himself some tea.

Something in the atmosphere of the room had changed, and it was clearly making Mr. and Mrs. Winterton uneasy. Mrs. Winterton got up and started putting the groceries away, while Mr. Winterton cleared his throat and said,

"Well son, is there anything you'd like to, er, to ask?"

"No," Aidan replied, shaking his head. His eyes hadn't left Remus, and Remus finally got the impression that the boy was as surprised as he was at how much the two of them looked alike.

"Well," said Mr. Winterton, getting up, "I know how anxious you must be to get going, so why don't you go grab your things…"

Remus found himself tuning out the ensuing parental babble. It seemed that the Wintertons were a tightly-knit family, although Aidan's current attitude didn't fit that picture. However, for a teenager, "tightly knit" often translated to "overly oppressive".

Aidan showed no sign of what he thought of his parents' going on about things. He just calmly finished his tea and left the table, apparently headed to his room to get his things. Mrs. Winterton shook her head once he'd gone.

"He's been so quiet lately," she said worriedly, "As if he thinks something bad is happening."

"He's always been sensitive," Mr. Winterton pointed out, "You say so all the time."

Remus sighed and got up.

"He may be more perceptive than you think," he commented cryptically. He hadn't told the Wintertons about Harry; it had seemed too complicated to try and explain. There was too much to go into, and a lot of it involved talking about Lily. Heck, he still hadn't figured out how he was going to explain things to Aidan.

Remus was waiting nervously by the front door when Aidan descended the stairs, carrying a suitcase and a duffel bag. He approached Remus without any apparent anxiety and nodded.

"Goodbye, son," Mr. Winterton said, putting a hand on Aidan's shoulder.

"We'll miss you!" Mrs. Winterton exclaimed tearfully.

"I'll be fine," Aidan assured them, "I'll see you at the end of the summer. Don't worry, I'll call."

"Er, writing might be a better idea," Remus interjected hurriedly. Aidan shrugged.

"All right, a postcard, then," he said with half a grin. Then he followed Remus out the door, again without anxiety, tossed his things in the trunk, and slid into the passenger seat as if he was getting into the car with a friend and not a father whom he knew absolutely nothing about.

Remus couldn't even begin to think of a way to start a conversation. Somehow, Aidan's calm, accepting manner was unnerving him even more, so the car ride remained rather quiet until Aidan suddenly asked,

"So, where are we really going?"

Remus was caught off-guard. He had expected some kind of curiosity, but by the way Aidan phrased his question, it sounded as though he already had an idea that this wasn't a normal summer trip. Remus decided to start with something safe.

"Well, right now I'm living about a mile from King's Cross Station," he said.

Aidan nodded slowly, watching trees zip past the window. In the silence, Remus's hand gravitated towards his pocket again, and he pulled out the chocolate bar.

"Chocolate?" he asked, breaking off a piece and offering it to Aidan.

"Thanks," Aidan took the chocolate and bit off a corner. Remus took a rather larger piece for himself, trying to calm his nerves. After he'd eaten a few squares, he cleared his throat and glanced at Aidan out of the corner of his eye.

"This is probably going to sound ridiculous," he said slowly, turning the situation over in his head and trying to find the best way to approach it, "But…well, do you like fantasy novels?"

"Sure," Aidan nodded, "Good stuff. I've always been taken with dragons and things."

"What about magic?" Remus continued carefully, pushing the conversation as quickly as he dared.

Aidan chewed his chocolate thoughtfully for a moment and shrugged.

"It's all right. Some people write it better than others, but it can be good for a laugh."

_A laugh_, Remus thought, _This ought to be interesting_.

"Did you ever, er, run around with sticks when you were a kid, pretend to cast spells, that sort of thing?" he asked, knowing that he probably sounded like a total fool, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Aidan raised an eyebrow. "That's a strange question. I guess I did, sometimes, but most kids do. Why do you ask?"

Remus sighed and shoved the last bit of chocolate into his mouth. Beating around the bush wasn't working; the only other choice was to dive in headfirst.

"Well," he said a bit thickly, "This is going to sound even stranger, but…what if I told you it was true?"

"What, fantasy novels?" Aidan asked in mild surprise.

"Magic, specifically," Remus replied. Aidan gave him a critical look, as if trying to decide if his biological father was insane or not.

"Is this one of those situations where you tell me that everything I ever believed is wrong and that there's actually a big underground community of some kind that I've just never noticed?" he asked finally. Remus nearly laughed; obviously, the boy did read quite a bit of fantasy.

"Actually, yes," he nodded, "To make a long story short, what I'm trying to tell you is that witches and wizards exist, although not in the way they're usually portrayed."

Aidan chuckled. "The next thing you're going to tell me is that you are one."

"Right again," Remus said, beginning to feel more comfortable, "And Lily – that is, your biological mother – was a witch."

"Well," Aidan said slowly, seeming more interested than overwhelmed, "How about that." He thought for a few minutes more, watching trees go by the window. Then, "In that case, how come I'm not one?"

"I'm not sure, exactly," Remus replied, "Sometimes the child of a witch and a wizard doesn't have powers; they're called Squibs. It happens the other way around, too: wizard children are sometimes born to Muggles. That is, people who aren't wizards."

"And what are they called?" Aidan asked, suddenly fixing Remus with a piercing green stare.

"Er," Remus faltered, "Just…wizards, I suppose."

"I see," Aidan tapped his fingers on the door handle for a moment, "So did you put me up for adoption because I'm one of these Squibs?"

Remus winced. This was one of the things he'd been afraid of, albeit a rather minor one. The only Squib he'd ever consciously known was Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker and resident scary hall monitor, and to say that Filch was bitter about his status would be a gross understatement. Remus had hoped he wouldn't have to deal with something similar when it came to Aidan.

"Of course not," he found himself saying, "Lily and I put you up for adoption because we were sixteen and couldn't take care of you. We wanted you to have a life."

Aidan's eyes searched Remus's face for a moment before he nodded.

"Good," he said, which seemed to Remus like a strange response.

"What?"

"You told me the truth," Aidan replied, looking out the window again, "I appreciate that."

"Is that why you're taking all of this so calmly?" Remus asked in surprise, "Because I'm telling you the truth?"

Aidan shrugged. "It'd be kind of stupid for you to lie about something like this, and I'd rather know about it before being dumped in the middle of it."

"Well," Remus cleared his throat, "There's more. About why I wanted to take you for the summer, I mean."

Aidan sat back and put his hands behind his head. "Shoot."

Remus tried his best to explain about Harry and everything the boy had been through in his life. It wasn't easy; several times Remus had to pause in his story to explain something else to Aidan, such as the fall of Voldemort and his subsequent vendetta against Harry, the reason for Sirius's imprisonment in Azkaban, and the circumstances of Sirius's death. He found a lump rising in his throat every time he talked about Sirius, and he gazed fiercely at the road ahead, willing himself not to cry. When he'd finished talking, Aidan was quiet for a while, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"One hell of a life," he said at last, "And you said he's been shut in his room for the last two weeks?"

Remus nodded. "Nothing that anybody's said can get him to come out. We can't even get him to talk to us through the door."

"He's got to come out once and a while," Aidan said slowly, "Call of nature, that kind of thing."

"Believe me, I've thought of that, but I haven't been able to catch him," Remus replied, "And even if I could, I don't know how he'd react. He seems pretty set on mourning in private."

Aidan frowned slightly. "At this point, I think it's crossed the line from mourning to moping. He should be coming out of himself."

"That's what we're all hoping for," Remus sighed.

"And how are you holding up?" Aidan asked.

Remus glanced at him in surprise. "Now you're asking strange questions."

Aidan shrugged. "I don't think it's so strange. Sounds to me like this Sirius was pretty important to you, too."

Remus was a bit awed. He'd said as little as possible about his own relationship with Sirius, partly because he was trying to focus on Harry, but mostly because he hadn't wanted to break down. The truth was, he missed Sirius as much as Harry did, if not more, but he'd been focusing so much on helping Harry that he hadn't taken much time to mourn the loss of his friend. This realization made Remus suddenly sad.

"We were close," was all he said. This seemed to be the end of the conversation, and both he and Aidan were silent for the rest of the trip.

Remus tried to snap himself out of his thoughts as he pulled the car up at the curb near where Grimmauld Place was hidden.

"Just one thing," he said to Aidan as the young man got out of the car, "We have to be extremely quiet when we go in; the last thing I want to do is wake Mrs. Black up."

"Is she sick?" Aidan asked, hoisting his duffel bag.

"She's a portrait," Remus replied. When Aidan raised an eyebrow, he added, "I'll explain later." With that, he led the way into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

He found Hermione, Ron, and Tonks sitting at the table, drinking tea and eating biscuits. Hermione and Ron were looking upset, and Tonks was apparently trying to cheer them up by changing her hair color so rapidly that she looked like a flashing neon sign.

Hermione looked up and saw Remus and Aidan standing in the doorway.

"Oh! You're back!" she exclaimed, jumping up to help Aidan with his suitcase, "Where should I put this?"

"Three doors down from Harry's room ought to be all right," Remus replied, "Dumbledore fixed the floor in there a few weeks ago."

Hermione nodded and turned to go up the stairs, but Remus stopped her.

"Quick introductions," he said, "Aidan, this is Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Tonks. Ron and Hermione are Harry's friends, and Tonks is…well, Tonks."

Tonks waved as her hair settled on a particularly shocking orange color. Remus rolled his eyes and gestured towards the table.

"Go ahead, sit down and try not to let Tonks scare you too much. I'll help Hermione bring your stuff upstairs. Oh, and Tonks," he added, reaching into the biscuit tin and coming up with the last one, "Could you stop eating my chocolate biscuits? I buy these things for me and they always seem to disappear before I get any."

Tonks forced a blush and Remus rolled his eyes. Then he hoisted Aidan's duffel bag and climbed the stairs after Hermione.

Once they had put Aidan's things in the bedroom, Remus addressed Hermione before they headed back downstairs.

"Aidan's probably going to need a little help getting used to things," he said, "I mean, I explained things to him, but I doubt it will really sink in until he starts seeing people using magic."

"He didn't seem terribly surprised by Tonks, though," Hermione pointed out.

"Even so, I don't think he's going to be able to jump right in and be entirely comfortable," Remus replied, "So could you do me a favor and be a sort of guide for him? He's basically a Muggle, so having someone around who's familiar with the Muggle world would probably be a good idea."

Hermione nodded. "All right, Professor Lupin; I'll do my best."

"Thanks," Remus smiled, "And I haven't been your teacher for a while now; you can stop calling me 'Professor'."

Hermione laughed. "I'll try."

Hermione was right; Aidan didn't seem to be phased by Tonks or, really, anything he saw. Remus began to wonder if the boy's brain had simply shut down after being given so many things to grasp in such a short time.

The first evening was much less awkward than Remus had envisioned. Molly and Arthur Weasley showed up and stayed for dinner along with Hermione, Ron, and Tonks. Molly was nothing short of ecstatic upon meeting Aidan, and Aidan was polite as could be in the face of her enthusiasm. Arthur was fascinated by the fact that Aidan had been raised by Muggles, and asked him so many questions about cars, telephones, television, and computers that Remus finally had to intervene and change the subject. Aidan and Hermione hit it off almost immediately and had a lengthy discussion about Muggle books that left everyone else scratching their heads.

Even Aidan and Ron had something in common: they both liked chess. Ron promised to show Aidan his wizarding set, and Aidan challenged Ron to a game the Muggle way. Remus was so relieved at how well things were going that he nearly forgot that he had yet to introduce Aidan to Harry.

The reality of the situation came rushing back after everyone had gone. Remus sighed as he put Harry's dinner together.

"You get to meet Harry now," he said in response to Aidan's questioning gaze, "Provided that he comes out of his room."

Aidan merely nodded in response and followed Remus upstairs. Remus knocked on Harry's door, as usual, and spoke in the silence that followed.

"Harry, I want you to come out and meet Aidan," he said, "And I know that you know what I'm talking about, because I'm the one who asked Dumbledore to explain it to you."

The silence continued. Remus rolled his eyes and pushed the dinner plate under the door.

"Have it your way, then," he said in exasperation. He was about to leave when Aidan knocked on the door himself.

"Harry, if you want any of Molly Weasley's spotted dick, you're going to have to come downstairs before we eat it all."

Remus raised his eyebrows as Aidan headed for the stairs, looking perfectly serious.

"Mrs. Weasley didn't make spotted dick," he whispered. Aidan broke into a grin.

"Harry doesn't know that, does he?" he said before turning and going back downstairs.

They waited downstairs for a while, idly playing cards. After a few hands, Remus ventured to ask,

"Why did you try to trick Harry? You seem pretty keen on the truth."

Aidan shrugged. "There's a difference between lying because you can and lying because you should," he said, "I figured there's nothing wrong with a little fib like that, especially if it works."

Good intentions or not, Aidan's trick didn't work. Harry stayed in his room, and Remus eventually headed to bed, feeing slightly disappointed.

Aidan stayed downstairs for a little while, staring at the wall and thinking. Then he, too, wend up to bed.

He awoke in the morning with an idea. Quietly, he got up, pulled on his dressing gown, and went down the hall to Harry's room.

"Harry?" he said softly, knocking on the door, "It's me, Aidan. Listen, I'm sorry about the spotted dick thing, all right? I'm sure this is as weird for you as it is for me, and I just thought it would be good if we talked face-to-face."

He paused, although he wasn't expecting a response. After a moment, he added,

"I'm going to be here all summer, so I'm in no hurry, but there are plenty of people who'd like to see you out of that room sooner rather than later."

And then Aidan went downstairs, leaving his words hanging in the air behind him.

After a few days had passed, Aidan was wandering around Grimmauld Place as comfortably as if he'd lived there his whole life. By the third day, he was showing up for breakfast in a dressing gown, with his hair sticking up in every direction and not seeming embarrassed in the least when other members of the Order wandered through. And, every morning, he stood outside Harry's room for a few minutes, having one-sided conversations with the half-brother he hadn't met.

Everyone else seemed to rather like the boy. McGonagall often commented on how calm he was, and Molly Weasley was impressed with his manners. Arthur Weasley continued to be fascinated with Aidan's Muggle upbringing. Dumbledore didn't talk to Aidan, but he tended to smile whenever he saw the boy. In fact, the only person who didn't seem happy with Aidan's presence was Snape.

Snape didn't run into Aidan until the fourth day. Aidan was sitting at the kitchen table, playing a game of chess with Ron on a Muggle set that Aidan had brought with him, when Snape came in with a message for Dumbledore, who was down in the basement playing Gobstones with Tonks. Snape didn't know this, so he approached the table grudgingly and inquired,

"Where is Dumbledore?"

Ron just about wet himself; he hadn't heard Snape come in. All he managed in reply was a kind of frightened squeak.

"He's in the basement," Aidan told Snape without looking up from the game. Snape's eyes narrowed.

"You're Lupin's son, aren't you?" he asked icily, his dark eyes taking in Aidan's ponytail, patched jean jacket, and earrings.

"His name is Remus," Aidan responded, moving a knight and putting Ron's king in check. His eyes still didn't leave the board. Ron was glancing nervously between Snape and Aidan, trying to decide if it would be a good time to leave the room.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer, but he said no more. He swept off towards the basement in a flurry of black robes and slammed the door behind him. Aidan looked after him thoughtfully.

"What's his problem?" he asked after a moment, raising an eyebrow.

Ron opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to speak. He'd felt sure for a moment that Snape was going to rip Aidan apart, at least verbally. The fact that this hadn't happened rather astounded him. Aidan looked surprised.

"You're not scared of him, are you?" he wanted to know, sounding as though he thought the very idea was ridiculous.

Ron nodded, finally finding his voice. "Pretty much everyone is."

Aidan shook his head and looked at the basement door again. Then he shrugged and returned to the chess game as if nothing had happened.


	3. Full Moon and PMS

**Chapter 3 – Full Moon and PMS**

A week had passed since Aidan's arrival at Grimmauld Place. Harry was still shut in his room and nothing much had changed, except that Aidan seemed to have developed a sudden interest in bonding with Remus. He showed up at Remus's bedroom door after breakfast on the seventh day and stood there quietly until Remus looked up from his book.

"Do you think any of this is making a difference?" Aidan asked before Remus could say anything.

"What?" Remus said, a little confused.

"Me, wasting my time talking to Harry," Aidan replied, "He hasn't reacted at all. I would think that, if he was angry, he'd at least throw something at the door."

Remus chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I would think that, too," he said, "But, in answer to your question, I don't think talking to him can hurt. It's just going to take time."

"Time," Aidan shook his head, his eyes scanning the room absently. Then he nodded toward the opposite wall. "Nice lunar chart."

Remus glanced at the rather yellowed length of parchment that was tacked to the wall over his desk. The phases of the moon moved in slow, complicated patterns over its surface as the month progressed, and, for Remus, it was better than a calendar.

"Sirius gave it to me in our last year of school," he said, surprising himself by volunteering the information, "He had a brief fascination with Charms."

"And astronomy, apparently," Aidan said, crossing the room to get a better look at the chart, "Hmm, full moon tomorrow."

Remus nearly choked. He usually kept a careful eye on the chart, but with everything that had been going on, he hadn't been as diligent as he should.

"Really?" he said as conversationally as possible, getting up and looking at the chart over Aidan's shoulder. Lo and behold, full moon was looming large.

"Should go for a walk," Aidan said, straightening up.

"What, during full moon?" Remus exclaimed, unable to hide his surprise.

"Why not?" Aidan shrugged, "I usually do; it's as good a time as any."

Remus was aware that he should say something in response, but the best he could do was nod. Even though he knew that Aidan wasn't a werewolf in any sense of the word, the absolute last thing he would have expected was that the boy would _like _moonlight.

"Anyhow, I'd better go have my morning chat with Harry," Aidan said after a moment, "I guess we'll see if anything comes of it."

Remus stared at the lunar chart for a long time after Aidan left the room. He knew that he'd told Aidan next to nothing about himself, but that had been more out of habit than anything else. The fact that Aidan rarely asked any questions made it even harder to offer information. But as for the moon…Remus preferred to keep that aspect of himself out of all conversations.

He reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a small notebook. He'd basically taken over Grimmauld Place after Sirius's death, and he found it helpful to keep track of Order meetings and any times when members of the Order were staying at the house. He flipped through the book until he found the next day's date. He groaned when he saw what was written under it.

_"S. Snape requests use of basement lab indefinitely._

_ M. McGonagall, A. Dumbledore, N. Tonks, and A. Moody out on business."_

That left the house in the hands of Snape for God only knew how long. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but normally the house would be empty. The fact that both Aidan and Harry were effectively living there for the summer could create a volatile situation; Snape disliked Aidan and absolutely despised Harry.

However, having Aidan in the house during full moon could present a problem, as well. Even though the wolfsbane potion made Remus harmless, he did spend the night in his werewolf form, curled up in a corner and, if he was lucky, getting some sleep. He didn't want to risk Aidan running into him like that.

He needed to do _something_. Getting Aidan out of the house would be best, although Remus shuddered to think that he'd pretty much be leaving Harry alone in the house with Snape. But at the moment this seemed to be the lesser of two evils, considering the most Snape would have to do would be to bring Harry his breakfast.

It turned out that Remus needn't have worried about getting Aidan out of the house. The boy already had plans with Hermione, strangely enough. The two of them were hitting up a Muggle book shop for something called open mic night, and then spending the night at Hermione's house. In the morning, Hermione had offered to show Aidan around Diagon Alley. Remus got the distinct impression that Hermione had also looked up the moon cycle and planned the whole thing herself.

"We'll be fine," she assured him brightly, "We ought to be back here in time for lunch tomorrow."

That meant the only person left to deal with was Snape. He breezed in after tea and headed straight for the basement door.

Remus was waiting for him. "Severus, a word, if you will."

Snape rolled his eyes. "What do _you_ want?"

"I'm sure you're aware what tonight is," Remus replied calmly, determined not let Snape get on his nerves.

"Oh, yes, it's your time of the month," Snape sneered, "What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm bound to be asleep half the day tomorrow," Remus said, "And, as much as I don't like it, you're the only other person in the house. So I want you to bring Harry his breakfast in the morning."

"Is that what all this is about?" Snape exclaimed, "You make it sound like a conspiracy."

Remus lowered his voice. "I want to make sure we're clear on this, Severus. Just bring Harry his toast. None of your sharp comments, no trickery, and no magical lock-picking."

"Lupin, you act as if you don't trust me!" Snape looked offended, although it was obvious that he was acting.

Remus laughed sourly. "I don't."

"Well, you shouldn't waste your time worrying. I'm well aware of how to make toast." Snape stuck his nose in the air and disappeared into the basement, slamming the door behind him.

Snape had no intention of being nice to Harry. After spending all night on one stubborn potion, he was hardly inclined to be nice – or even remotely civil – to _anyone_. So, he knocked on Harry's door rather sharply when morning rolled around and barked,

"Look, Potter, I'm not going to play this stupid game with you. Come out and get your breakfast or you don't get anything."

There was silence for a moment. Then, very slowly, Harry's hand appeared in the space under the door. He held it out, palm up, clearly showing that this was as far "out" as he was going to come.

Snape was tempted to step on Harry's fingers. He found the boy's behavior ridiculous, and he wasn't about to let a bratty sixteen-year-old have the upper hand. He snorted and backed up a step.

"I mean it, Potter. If you don't come out of there, your toast is going in the garbage."

Again, there was a moment of silence. Snape was about to make good on his threat when, to his complete surprise, he heard Harry's voice say,

"Give me my toast and leave me alone, you greasy bastard."

Snape sputtered, momentarily at a loss for a comeback. He didn't particularly care that he'd just heard what were probably the first words Harry had spoken in weeks; he just knew he'd been insulted, and he wasn't going to stand for it. He very purposefully set the plate of toast out of Harry's reach and strode noisily downstairs without a word.

A moment later, the tip of Harry's wand emerged from under the door and the muffled incantation, "_Accio toast!_" was spoken. The plate slid slowly under the door and disappeared from view.

Remus emerged from his bedroom shortly before noon, yawning and smoothing his hair down. He headed straight for the kitchen and was halfway through making a sandwich before his tired brain registered that Aidan and Hermione were sitting at the table, sharing a massive chocolate bar and enthusiastically discussing their outings.

"I can't believe you'd never been to an open mic before," Aidan was saying.

"I didn't know they existed," Hermione replied, sounding a bit embarrassed, "I've pretty much been focused on the wizarding world since I started going to Hogwarts."

"You must have at least a few Muggle friends," Aidan persisted, and Remus chuckled to himself at how quickly the boy had picked up wizarding lingo.

"Of course, but none of them are musicians," Hermione said, "Anyway, I usually got to bookshops for the books!"

"Well, now you've been to one," Aidan said with a grin, "And there'll be a couple more before summer is out."

"I'd go back to see that one act, the one with the fiddle," Hermione added.

"Sunset Sam and the Exhausted Fiddler," Aidan laughed, "They're pretty fun, aren't they?"

Hermione nodded as Remus sat down with his lunch. Aidan looked up and slid a large square of chocolate across the table.

"Saved you some," he said lightly, "How's Harry?"

Before Remus could reply, the basement door opened and Snape poked his head out, looking sour.

"Lupin, a word," he said shortly. Remus raised his eyebrows and went over. Snape ushered him down the basement stairs and close the door behind them.

"I thought you might find it interesting that young Mr. Potter found it in him to insult me this morning," Snape reported, frowning deeply. Remus stared at him in surprise.

"He said something to you?" he exclaimed, "What did he say?"

Snape relayed Harry's comment and Remus had to refrain from laughing. It wasn't exactly encouraging that Harry's first sentence in weeks was something nasty, but things could have been a lot worse.

Snape scowled. "I'm not surprised that you find this amusing, Lupin. Personally, I think that we've pandered to Potter's immature behavior for far too long. You may be content to allow him to do as he pleases, but I will not stand for it much longer."

"You must remember, Severus, that I'm not the one at the helm in this situation," Remus said, matching Snape's cool, level tone, "Dumbledore is the one who decided how this should be handled."

"And a fine mess it's turned into," Snape spat, "What about your solution to the problem? Your ridiculous long-haired son spends more time gallivanting around with Granger than he does trying to put a stop to this fiasco."

Remus sighed loudly. "Oh, honestly, Severus, the only reason you don't like Aidan is because he can see right through you."

Snape's eyebrows shot up. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't scare him," Remus replied mildly, "He's the only person in this house who completely ignores your attitude. And I know you; you don't like being cut down to size."

"Well, as much as I know you'd enjoy harboring a delusion like that, allow me to put it to rest," Snape sneered, "I am not intimidated by your excuse for a son, nor will I ever be."

Remus shrugged. "I didn't say you were. Oh yes, and by the way," he added, turning at the door, "His name is Aidan."

He left Snape standing at the bottom of the stairs, seething quietly.

Aidan laid on the bed in his room that night, staring up at the ceiling and listening to a CD by someone called Michael Nesmith. He and Hermione had swapped a lot of Muggle things for the summer, seriously confusing Ron, who had been present at the time.

As Nesmith sang on about traveling to Rio, Aidan thought. It seemed strange to him that nothing he'd experienced over the past week was unsettling in any way. Up until this summer, his whole life had been spent living with his parents, as well-meaning as they were, hanging over him like he was going to break if they did something wrong. He'd never understood it; he was adopted, not unstable. And his parents hadn't known a thing about the Squib business, that much was certain. If they had, they'd have sat Aidan down and explained it to him very gently at some point, the way they'd done with sex when he was thirteen.

Aidan knew that he wasn't an excitable person. As far as he could recall, he never had been. He tended to take things in stride, but those were normal things, things that could be expected in the life of a normal kid growing up in a normal neighborhood. Somehow, he felt that suddenly finding out he was a wizard's son and being swept off to a big, dark house to spend the summer with his biological father and morose half-brother should cause him at least some feelings of confusion. But here he was, calmly listening to music on his discman as if it was any other summer night. Nothing was bothering him at all.

Well, he considered, that wasn't entirely true. There was one thing that had been weighing on his mind since he'd arrived at Grimmauld Place. It wasn't something he thought about very often; in fact, he'd spent much of his childhood convincing himself that it wasn't even real.

When he was a boy, Aidan had been able to sense how people were feeling. Sometimes he could even see a nimbus of color around a person: red for anger, blue for sadness, pretty generic stuff. But, as he grew older, he realized that this wasn't normal, and he began to ignore it as his life became more hectic. By high school, the ability had faded to nothing more than a vague jumble of feelings. But, in his week at Grimmauld Place, it had begun to come back.

Aidan hadn't noticed until the first time he tried to talk to Harry. There was a definite feeling of anger pouring out of the boy's room, so strong that Aidan could have sworn there was a red haze leaking out from under the door. He was quite taken aback by this discovery, and would have brushed it off if he hadn't seen nearly the same thing when he met Snape.

Snape's anger was different, in a way. Deeper, maybe, and it didn't mask sadness the way Harry's did. And it was old. Aidan had been so surprised at the way Snape seemed to wrap the stale, aged anger and resentment around himself that he hadn't known how to react except for being as calm as humanly possible.

Pretty much everyone who came and went in Grimmauld Place had some sort of feeling attached to them. Tonks had a sort of bright yellow, upbeat happiness; Molly Weasley carried around a very definite air of matronly concern for everyone that glowed warm and pink; and Arthur Weasley's intense curiosity was, for some reason, a misty orange color.

The only person that Aidan hadn't been able to figure out was Dumbledore. He'd never said a word to the man, but one day while Dumbledore was talking to Remus, Aidan had caught a glimpse of the strangest color he'd ever seen floating somewhere around Dumbledore's hat. The closest thing he could think of to describe it was midnight blue, but that didn't do it justice. There were deep purples, various shades of black and grey, and even a tinge of pink here and there. It didn't make a bit of sense; if Aidan were to describe Dumbledore purely from his observations, he would have pegged the old wizard as a kind of wizened eccentric. But the color was unsettling, and Aidan had decided it was best to keep his distance.

Then there was Remus. Aidan had liked him from the start; he was straightforward, honest, and quiet. He didn't try to force Aidan to be his son or plan things for the two of them to do together. He just was there, and Aidan found him to be very approachable and easy to get along with. But there was something about him, something withdrawn and, strangely, scared. He wrapped his outwardly gentle nature around him so tightly that Aidan had trouble seeing through it. It was a muted yellow, but somewhere deep down, there was a streak of red, a different sort of red than the one for anger, and Aidan had no idea what it meant.

He suddenly heard a sound outside of the quiet tropical music in his headphones. He paused the CD and went to the door, pressing his eye against the crack between the door and the frame. He had to keep from laughing when he saw the bathroom door open and close by itself; Remus had said something about Harry owning an invisibility cloak, but Aidan hadn't entirely believed it. However, it would seem that was how Harry had been getting to and from the bathroom without being seen.

Very quietly, Aidan eased his bedroom door open and moved down the hall in the direction of Harry's room. He positioned himself squarely in front of the door as he heard the toilet flush in the bathroom. Then he stood and waited as calmly as possible until the bathroom door opened again, and the nearly inaudible sound of footsteps came down the hall. It was a creepy feeling, knowing that the footsteps belonged to Harry but not being able to actually see him walking. The semi-darkness of the hallway only made it stranger.

The footsteps stopped about a yard from Aidan, and once again he caught a glimpse of the red haze he'd seen under Harry's door earlier in the week. Apparently the invisibility cloak didn't block everything.

"Move." The word came from somewhere inside the haze, hoarse and sharp. Aidan shrugged.

"I don't think I will," he said mildly.

"I do," Harry replied. A length of his wand emerged from under the cloak and appeared to float in midair, the tip pointed straight at Aidan's chest.

"Ah, magic instead of manners. I see how it is," Aidan sighed theatrically.

"Look, I don't know what you're playing at, but I'm going back in my room," Harry snapped. The wand floated forward a foot or so, but Aidan stayed put.

"You're out now. Why don't we talk?" he suggested.

"You've done enough of that outside my door every morning," Harry said sourly, "Now, move."

"No," Aidan said forcefully, "You're out; we're going to talk."

A few red sparks emerged from the end of Harry's wand and Aidan had to fight not to cringe. He knew that Harry could probably hurt him, but he'd come this far and wasn't about to chicken out just because Harry was ticked off.

"I know Remus put you up to this," Harry said suddenly.

Aidan shook his head. "No, he didn't. Now could you please take that cloak off? This is rather awkward."

Harry sighed. For a moment, Aidan didn't think he was going to comply, but then the cloak dropped to the floor, revealing Harry for the first time.

Aidan tried to hide his surprise. He wasn't quite sure was he expected, but it wasn't the boy that stood before him, frowning and grasping his wand as if it was the only sure thing in the world.

Harry looked, in a word, terrible. Of course, after spending two weeks shut up in a bedroom with nothing but his own problems, that was to be expected, but the boy looked as if he'd been through a war. His hair was matted down across his forehead in a mass of greasy, scraggly strands; his eyes were bloodshot and swollen; and there was a large bruise on his forehead as if he'd banged his head hard against the wall. The hand holding his wand trembled.

"You've had your look," he spat, "Now move, or I swear I'll use this."

"Why are you so desperate to lock yourself back in your bedroom?" Aidan asked, "I'm just going to come back in the morning and talk to you again."

"What is your problem?" Harry exclaimed, "If Remus didn't put you up to this, why the hell do you care?"

Aidan looked at Harry for a moment. Why _did_ he care, exactly? At this point, Harry was moody, confrontational, and cold, none of which were particularly likeable qualities. But he was hurting, Aidan could see that. It was obvious from the look in his eyes.

His eyes. If there was anything unsettling about the whole thing, it was the startling pair of green eyes that was staring out at Aidan from under Harry's ragged bangs. It was like looking in a mirror, only much more frightening, because Harry's eyes held a look of pain and loss, a desperate stare that Aidan had never seen before. It was hard to think in the face of a stare like that. But, after a while, Aidan managed to say,

"I care because you're my brother, and you're hurting."

"Well, I've got news for you, _half_-brother," Harry spat, striding up to Aidan and prodding him forcefully in the chest with the wand, "I don't."

And, before Aidan could stop him, Harry slipped into the bedroom and slammed the door.

Remus dreamed of Sirius again. This time, the two of them were walking along the shore of the lake on the grounds of Hogwarts. It was night and the sky was full of stars.

"So, things are going well," Sirius said with half a smile.

"I don't know what things you're talking about," Remus said, giving Sirius a strange look, "But things on my end aren't exactly wonderful."

"Okay," Sirius nodded, "Granted Harry's still in his room, but you and Aidan seem to be getting on."

"When we actually interact, yes," Remus agreed, "He seems to have taken to Hermione, oddly enough."

Sirius shrugged. "I don't think it's so odd. You said it yourself: she's familiar with the Muggle world. He probably feels comfortable around her."

"Yeah," Remus kicked a stone absently and looked up at the sky.

"You're holding out on him, though," Sirius added suddenly.

Remus looked up in surprise. "What?"

"You know what I mean," Sirius said cryptically, pushing a few stay hairs out of his face.

"Oh honestly, Padfoot," Remus sighed, "I just dumped the entire idea of the wizarding world on him; how exactly do you think he'd react if he found out his father was a werewolf, as well?"

"He's taken everything calmly, hasn't he?" Sirius pointed out, "Why should this be any different?"

"You, of all people, should know the answer to that," Remus retorted sharply, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground.

"Just remember: he said he appreciates the truth," Sirius sounded apologetic as the dream faded to light and Remus woke up. Sirius's words echoed in his head as he pulled on his dressing gown and headed downstairs.

He was extremely surprised to find that Harry was sitting at the table with Aidan, Hermione, Ron, and Molly Weasley, drinking tea. The boy looked like hell, but at least he was out of his room.

"Good morning," Remus ventured, beginning to make toast out of habit.

"'Morning," Aidan was the one to reply, "Can I help with anything?"

"No, no, I'll be fine," Remus replied, pulling plates out of the cupboard and trying not to drop any. The dream had unsettled him more than he'd bargained for. He managed to collect himself and, after a moment, served the toast along with a jar of jam. Everyone began helping themselves, although, Remus noticed, they kept glancing at Harry. Aidan, however, kept his eyes on his toast and acted as if Harry wasn't even there. This seemed strange to Remus, but he said nothing; it was probably because of Aidan that Harry had decided to show up.

"You can all bloody well stop staring at me now," Harry snapped suddenly, his toast halfway to his mouth, "I'm out of my room; that ought to be enough."

"No one's staring at you, Harry," Hermione said gently. Remus saw her hand tremble as she set about spreading jam on her toast.

"I think we're all just glad you're here," he put in.

"Well, I'm not," Harry muttered, "I only came down so you'd all leave me alone. I'm going right back up later."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Aidan said mildly.

Harry sneered at Aidan over the top of his teacup. "Do you really think I care what you 'recommend', you bastard sod?"

"Harry!" exclaimed Molly, blushing and looking mortified

"Harry, there's no cause for that," Remus admonished, fighting down the sudden urge to yell, "We're all trying to help."

"Oh, go bite yourself, would you?" Harry shouted, jumping to his feet and slamming his teacup down so hard that it burst and tea splashed across the table. A hush fell over the group. Remus gritted his teeth and stood up, as well.

"That was a mistake," he hissed, meeting Harry's fierce, angry stare with one of his own, "If your parents were still alive, James especially would have given you a good ding around the ear hole for that. Sirius would have, too. I'm not them, so I won't, but you sure as _hell _better re-adjust your attitude before you speak to me or my son again."

With that, Remus strode out of the room, clenching his fists and ignoring the urge to go for someone's jugular.

Aidan sat back, a little stunned. The argument left tendrils of red mist dancing across his vision, and he rubbed his eyes, trying to clear it away. He only looked up when he felt the emotion in the room change. The anger and tension slowly drained away, leaving silence and a strange emptiness.

Harry was leaning heavily against the table, staring after Remus with a look of horror. His jaw worked wordlessly for a moment and then suddenly, very slowly, he dropped to his knees, shaking.

"Harry?" Ron ventured tentatively. The only reply was a quiet sniffling sound from Harry's direction. Molly was on her feet in an instant. She bustled around the table and knelt next to Harry, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"It's all right," she murmured, "Everything's fine."

"Don't touch me," Harry whispered, jerking his shoulder away from her hand. Aidan got to his feet and went over.

"Let me have a go," he said quietly to Molly, helping her up and taking her place beside Harry. The boy was fighting in vain against the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.

"Come on, Harry, it's okay," Aidan said to him, "This is tough for you, I get that."

Harry shook his head, his eyes tightly shut.

"What?" Aidan prompted, gently putting an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"I want this to be over," Harry's voice was nearly inaudible.

"It won't be until you let it," Aidan said quietly. Harry shook with fresh sobs and tried to push Aidan's arm away, but Aidan squeezed his shoulders and wouldn't let go. The room was silent except for Harry's crying.

"Sirius isn't coming back," Harry wheezed suddenly through his sobs.

"I know," Aidan soothed, "You've got to let him go."

"I…can't…" Harry choked, looking away.

"You have to," Aidan repeated, "Harry, you'll die if you keep going on like this. One of these days, it's not going to be enough to be by yourself anymore. If you can't share your pain, you're not going to be able to live with yourself."

"I don't have anywhere to go," Harry moaned, sounding miserable.

"That's not true," Aidan shook his head, "You have your friends, and, for what it's worth, me. And my dad."

The atmosphere of the room changed again, almost imperceptibly.

"Your dad," Harry said flatly, getting to his feet. Aidan looked up at him quizzically, wondering what was going on.

"Remus is worried about you," he said slowly. Harry blinked and looked down at Aidan, and Aidan got the impression that, somehow, Harry's sadness had crystallized into a kind of cold calculation that was extremely unpleasant.

"And so he brings you along to deal with me," he snapped, "Brilliant."

"He tried to help you himself," Aidan pointed out, standing up.

"Apparently his idea of helping me is telling me he bonked my mum and showing up with you as proof," Harry sneered, turning away and folding his arms across his chest.

"Come on, don't start with this again," Aidan sighed, "This is a front, and you know it."

"Stop pretending you know me!" Harry yelled, rounding on Aidan suddenly, "Just because we have the same mum doesn't make us the same, not by a long shot. For one thing, my dad had the decency to get married before having a kid."

"Don't play the 'my dad is better than your dad' card," Aidan shot back, getting impatient, "You're being stupid and immature, which is sad, because for a second there you were doing pretty well."

"Oh yes, I'm sure it makes you feel like the wonderful big brother, being able to comfort me," Harry said venomously, "But you're not wonderful and, as far as I'm concerned, you're not my brother. You're just some Squib bastard, and you're wasting your time."

"Oh bloody hell, Harry, take a Midol or something!"

Everyone turned and stared at Hermione. Her face was red and she was glaring at Harry, her eyes dark and dangerous. Harry gaped at her, flabbergasted.

"Aidan's right!" she continued, her voice quavering, "You're just being stupid and petty and mean. Everyone's trying to help you get over Sirius's death. If you _want _to stay in your room, go right ahead, but Sirius is _not _coming back, your life is _not _going to suddenly be a bed of roses, and you're _not _going to make Aidan disappear by pretending he's not related to you. Remus has been working his arse off trying to help you, and you're just being an ungrateful brat!"

With that, she turned and stormed out of the room, leaving Harry, Ron, Molly, and Aidan staring after her in surprise.


	4. Defense Against the Dark Arts

**Chapter 4 – Defense Against the Dark Arts**

Things were considerably different after Hermione's tirade. The next day, Harry apologized to both Aidan and Remus, gave Molly Weasley a bunch of wildflowers, and even offered to do the breakfast dishes. He then settled down to a game of wizard chess with Ron.

Dumbledore arrived a short time later and was caught completely off-guard by the sight of Harry being so apparently normal and calm. He immediately sought Remus out and asked what had happened to finally bring Harry out of his room.

"It's all been the kids, honestly," Remus replied, "Aidan got him out of his room and Hermione brought him down to Earth."

"The change is extraordinary," Dumbledore marveled, shaking his head, "I'd have thought he would be a wreck."

"You should have heard him yesterday," Remus laughed, "Things were rather volatile for a while."

"Shall I arrange for Aidan's return home?" Dumbledore asked. Remus stared at him in surprise.

"Why would I want you to do that?"

"Well, he's done what you brought him here to do," Dumbledore replied calmly, "Harry's come out of his room. I assumed that you would want to return Aidan to his Muggle life as soon as possible."

"Albus, I told the Wintertons that I'd be taking Aidan for the summer," Remus said, "And I intend for him to stay here until the end of the season."

"Well, that's quite different from what I heard a few weeks ago," Dumbledore said mildly. Remus turned and gave him a critical look, not liking the forced feeling to the man's calmness.

"Maybe I was wrong," he said, "Anyway, it doesn't make much sense to ship him off so quickly. Harry will most likely still need help, or at least support."

"Which any one of us would be happy to give him," Dumbledore replied.

"Aidan included," Remus finished firmly. Dumbledore looked at him critically for a moment before disappearing downstairs.

Aidan had joined Harry and Ron at the table to watch their chess game and was very surprised when Dumbledore came in and sat down across from him.

"Aidan, how are you holding up in the wizarding world?" Dumbledore asked, kindly enough.

Aidan raised an eyebrow. "I'm just fine. Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to make sure that things are all right," Dumbledore replied, "Wouldn't want you to feel confused."

"Well, with all due respect, Mr. Dumbledore, I find your concern puzzling," Aidan said, trying to match Dumbledore's smooth tone. Ron snorted with suppressed laughter at hearing Dumbledore addressed as "Mr."

"Why is that?" Dumbledore questioned, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and ignoring Ron.

"It's just that I've been here for a couple of weeks and it seems odd that you would wait until now to speak to me," Aidan explained carefully. He felt as though he was suddenly in the middle of some sort of contest. It seemed that, however calm he was, Dumbledore was trying to be calmer. What exactly the prize would be for the one who kept his cool the longest was a mystery.

"Well, I have been rather busy," Dumbledore replied, and Aidan got the distinct impression that he was lying, "I'm sorry that I've not had a chance to speak with you sooner. But, now that we do have time to talk, tell me: are you homesick at all?"

Aidan shook his head. "Not really, no."

"So you don't feel that you'd rather be spending the summer at home?" Dumbledore pressed.

"I've spent the last eighteen summers at home," Aidan replied, trying not to show his annoyance at Dumbledore's nonchalant probing, "At this point, change is very welcome."

"Aren't your parents worried about you?" Dumbledore questioned, concern swirling in his blue eyes. For some reason, this unsettled Aidan even further.

"My parents worry about me if I sneeze the wrong way," he said pointedly, "And, if you'll excuse me, I don't believe any of this is really your business. If anyone wants to ask how I'm doing, it should be my dad."

"I see," Dumbledore adjusted his spectacles, "I'm sorry that you feel I'm intruding. I was just concerned."

"Well, I'm doing just fine," Aidan assured him, fighting the urge to grin sarcastically, "In fact, I kind of like it here."

"That's good to hear," Dumbledore said, getting up and heading in the direction of the basement. Aidan looked after him with distaste.

"I don't like him," he said once Dumbledore was out of earshot.

Harry laughed shortly. "Don't let anyone else hear you say that. Ninety percent of the wizarding world thinks he's the best thing since Quidditch."

"He's too nosy," Aidan muttered. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, but Dumbledore's sudden interest in him didn't sit well. He remembered the strange color he'd seen near the man and wondered what was going on.

"Severus, do you have a moment?" 

Snape looked up from the vials he was inspecting. Dumbledore was standing at the foot of the basement stairs, looking less than happy.

"Yes, Albus?"

"Remus's son is becoming a nuisance," was Dumbledore's reply, "And I'd like you to help me deal with him, Severus."

"You've caught my interest," Snape smiled nastily, "What did you have in mind?"

"We need to get rid of him," Dumbledore said, "Make him want to go home."

Snape looked disappointed. "I was almost hoping you would suggest something more drastic."

"I wasn't about to. Why, did you have an idea?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"I suppose it all depends on why you want him gone," Snape replied, reclining against his workbench.

"He wasn't the kind of help that I had in mind for Harry in the first place," Dumbledore said, clasping his hands behind his back and beginning to pace, "And now that things have come this far, he doesn't want to leave."

"And you're afraid that his presence will somehow reflect poorly on you?" Snape inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Precisely. The boy is a living reminder of the fact that a fiasco of huge proportions was hidden from me by a couple of sixteen-year-olds. I'll not have word getting out that Hogwarts students harbor secret sex lives," Dumbledore frowned, "And I'll definitely not stand for people believing that the bastard son of a werewolf was able to bring the famous Harry Potter out of his suicidal state."

"You'd rather that people believe it was your doing," Snape added, following Dumbledore's train of thought.

"There's no need to be sarcastic, Severus," Dumbledore admonished, "I'm sure you realize how it would benefit the image of Hogwarts if people were to believe that, with careful nurturing, Harry was brought back to himself by the dutiful staff. Therefore, it would be best if we get Aidan to leave as soon as possible and keep his part in the story from ever getting out."

Snape rolled his eyes. "You're too soft, Albus. What we need is to ensure that the boy will not come back."

Dumbledore gave Snape a sharp look over the top of his spectacles.

"And what exactly did you have in mind? I don't want this to get messy."

"Oh, nothing messy, I can assure you," Snape waved a hand, "I'll just…play with a few minds."

Dumbledore cast a quick glance at the line of vials on Snape's workbench. Then he shrugged.

"If you believe that your plan will work, Severus, then by all means, put it into action. But if there are no results by the end of the week, I shall take matters into my own hands."

"Don't worry, headmaster; a week is plenty of time," Snape said with a smirk.

It didn't occur to Remus to be worried when he came downstairs later that afternoon and found Aidan curled up on the couch in the living room with his nose buried in a Defense Against the Dark Arts text. The young man looked absolutely enthralled, and Remus assumed that he'd been trading things with Hermione again.

"If you're interested in DADA, I've got plenty of books."

Aidan looked up. "I thought this one was yours."

Remus shook his head, surprised. "I figured you got it from Hermione or someone."

"It was on the kitchen table, actually," Aidan replied, "I thought you'd left it there."

"Well, whatever," Remus shrugged, "Either way, I do have more, if you're interested."

"Thanks," Aidan nodded, returning to the book. Remus watched him for a moment before heading to the kitchen.

Harry and Ron were still at the table, playing chess. Hermione was also there, reading and occasionally glancing at the two of them over the top of her book.

"Honestly, are you two going to do that all day?"

"Yes," Ron replied impishly.

"And I _am_ going to beat you," Harry added as his rook glided across the board and mutilated Ron's remaining knight.

"Bugger," Ron muttered. Remus laughed. It was a relief to see things so normal. It was also rather nice to have Harry and his friends around Grimmauld Place so much. Despite the constant comings and goings of the Order, the house was often quite lonely. Now that Harry was out of his room, it was almost cheerful.

"Ha! Checkmate!" Harry shouted suddenly.

"No fair! One more game!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Don't you want to take a tea break?" Remus asked. Not surprisingly, Harry and Ron abandoned their game in favor of tea and biscuits, but Hermione kept her nose in her book as she ate. Aidan wandered in a few minutes later, also reading.

"You must really like that book," Remus commented.

"It's fascinating," Aidan said, reaching for a biscuit, "It really is like a fantasy novel, except it's all real. Wizardry, I can believe, but vampires and banshees and things? Amazing."

"Oh, believe it," Remus said with a chuckle, "I've dealt with a few vampires in my time."

"He has, you know," Harry said when Aidan raised an eyebrow, "Among other things."

"Banshees?"

"Yup," Remus nodded.

"Boggarts?"

"Hell yes," Harry laughed.

"Zombies?"

"Only once."

"Werewolves?"

Remus cringed inwardly, but answered, "Those, too."

"Wow," Aidan shook his head, even though he wanted to ask more questions. However, there was a subtle change in the room's atmosphere that told him this wouldn't be a good idea. He glanced at Remus and was surprised to see color swirling around the man, the same muted yellow streaked with red that he'd seen a few days before. But the red streak was more prominent, almost like a blush of embarrassment against the background of yellow.

Remus, for his part, was relieved when Aidan returned to his reading and said nothing further. Although it wasn't impossible for him to talk about his condition as if it was something to be studied and not something he actually had, he preferred not to talk about it at all. Fortunately, Aidan hadn't seemed to notice anything. He continued to read all through tea, and eventually disappeared into his room, still reading.

"Are you all right, Prof – er, Remus?" Hermione asked awkwardly once Aidan had gone.

Remus sighed. "Yes. I feel a little foolish, actually. You'd think that, after teaching DADA, I'd be able to talk about lycanthropy without wincing."

"Whether or not you suffer from it, it's not a light subject," Hermione pointed out.

"You're right about that," Remus said, getting up, "You should have seen Sirius trying to read up on it when we were in school; he had a pile of books the size of the Quiddith field." He suddenly realized what he'd said and glanced at Harry. "Sorry."

Harry shook his head. "It's okay. I'd rather you talk about it than act like I'm glass or something."

"Don't we have another game to play?" Ron asked impatiently, apparently not noticing the conversation. Harry laughed.

"Yes. And I'm going to beat you again."

In no time at all, the two of them were immersed in another game. Hermione sighed theatrically and went back to reading, and Remus wandered out of the room, momentarily lost in thought. He had to be ready in case Aidan's sudden interest in Defense Against the Dark Arts sparked more questions. He couldn't keep on being awkward about the subject of werewolves, especially if he wanted to keep his condition quiet all summer.

Snape hummed to himself, the sound tuneless and smug in the otherwise quiet basement.

He hadn't liked Aidan from the first the moment he'd seen the boy. He looked like a ridiculous, long-haired version of Lupin, and the way Snape figured, he probably wasn't too different from his father. The fact that he shared half a bloodline with Potter didn't help matters. And his inherent calmness was positively irritating.

But now, Snape thought with a smirk, he had a chance to have a bit of fun. Whatever had possessed Dumbledore to want Aidan gone, Snape wasn't about to argue with it. Instilling distrust between people was nearly as entertaining as picking on incompetent Gryffindors. And, now that Aidan's interest was captured, the job would be that much easier.

Snape went to the corner and crouched in front of a low bookshelf that was crowded with tomes. Most of them contained potion recipes, but there were a few on other subjects. After a moment, Snape pulled a slim volume off the bottom shelf, cradling it in his long fingers as though it were a treasure of some kind. He re-read the title and nodded, grinning to himself. Yes, this would be his next weapon.

Within two days, Aidan had blazed his way through every Defense Against the Dark Arts text in Grimmauld Place. He looked extremely disappointed when Remus told him there weren't any more, and started asking after books on specific subjects. All Remus had to offer was a book or two on vampires and a musty copy of _Scary Beasts of Olde_, a rather hokey old book which had been jammed in the back corner of his closet for God only knew how long.

Aidan was sitting at the kitchen table with the latter volume when Snape emerged from the basement, looking distracted. Aidan ignored him as he settled himself at the table with a glass of water and a book of his own. Each sat, reading quietly, for close to half an hour before Snape got up, leaving his book propped open, pages-down, on the table. Aidan watched Snape leave the room out of the corner of his eye.

"What was that all about?" he muttered to himself, making to return to his book but stopping when he caught sight of the title of the volume that Snape had left on the table.

He blinked. Remus had said that there were no more DADA-related books in the house, and yet here was another one. Maybe it belonged to Snape, although Aidan had never seen the man read recreationally before. Either way, Aidan tried to ignore it and went back to his own reading.

After skimming a few more paragraphs of archaic writing, though, he glanced up again, unable to concentrate. For some reason, he was feeling intensely curious about Snape's book. He knew instinctively that taking the book wouldn't be a very good idea; the fact that Snape had left it on the table indicated that he would probably be back for it later. But then again, he wasn't around _now, _and he probably wouldn't notice if Aidan leafed through the book a bit.

Despite his better judgment, Aidan reached for the book pulled it across the table, taking care to mentally mark Snape's place. Then he propped it open on top of the book already in his lap and began to read.

Around the corner, Snape smiled to himself. It really was too easy. All he had to do now was sit back and give the situation a nudge now and then. He couldn't recall the last time he'd had so much fun.

It was Harry who discovered Aidan still at the table two hours later with his nose buried in a book titled _Wizards and Lycanthropy._ At first, Harry didn't take much notice, but as the book's title registered in his head, he did a double take and stared.

Aidan glanced up, raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Er," Harry stammered, "Nothing. You just kind of startled me, sort of…"

Aidan cocked his head and looked at Harry for a moment, then returned to the book. Harry risked another glance at the book, then left the room as nonchalantly as possible, his mind racing.

Where the hell had a book like that come from? Harry knew that Remus didn't have any; he didn't need any, and Remus rarely bought things he didn't need if they weren't somehow related to chocolate. And it was a pretty sure bet that most of the people who passed through Grimmauld Place would be smart enough not to hand Aidan a book on werewolves, especially since Remus had been very specific about keeping his condition under wraps while Aidan was around. In fact, the only person who might be inclined to…

Harry blinked. That was it. Without any further thought as to what he was doing, he turned around marched back through the kitchen and into the basement.

"Close the door!" Snape shouted in exasperation, not turning from his workbench. The vial in his hand was smoking delicately.

Harry pulled the door shut so hard that two bottles fell off the shelves.

"Shit!" Snape exclaimed, "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?"

"We," said Harry, "Are going to talk."

Snape finally looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I see. And in what universe is this going to happen?"

"I know what you're up to," Harry continued, electing to ignore Snape's sarcasm.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Potter," Snape replied mildly, holding the smoking vial up to the light and examining the pale purple liquid inside.

"I know you gave Aidan the lycanthropy book," Harry snapped, "I don't know how you got him to take it, but it has every trademark of one of your filthy grudges."

"Potter, as you are no longer sulking in your room, I feel that I should inform you that I am not going to put up with your attitude," Snape said, an edge of deadly calm in his voice, "That said, I do have one question: why do you care what Lupin's son is reading? I don't think I need to remind you that you didn't want to be anywhere near him a few days ago."

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again when he realized that Snape had a point. Why _did _he care about Aidan all of a sudden? After all, the boy was nothing but a living reminder of what he'd lost; every time Harry saw Aidan's eyes, all he could think about was his mother. And yet, there was something calming about Aidan, something about the way he never got upset or impatient. He wasn't intrusive or condescending like many of the adults in Harry's life. And anyway, nobody really deserved to be on the receiving end of one of Snape's many petty problems.

"I just want to make sure you don't mess around with anybody," he said to Snape.

"Well, there's no danger of that. With all the work I've been doing, I hardly have time to, as you say, mess around," Snape said, waving a hand, "Now go; I'm busy."

"Fine," Harry snapped, "But if something bad happens, the blame is going to fall on you."

"I tremble at the very thought," Snape sniffed, returning his workbench. Harry watched him critically for a moment more before returning upstairs, only to find that both Aidan and the book he'd been reading were gone.


	5. Wolf's Bane

**Chapter 5 – Wolf's Bane**

Remus was puzzled.

He had set about doing some research after Aidan had disappeared downstairs. Despite the fact that he was thrilled at Harry's recovery, Remus was curious as to how Harry had overcome his depression so quickly. After all, the boy had plenty of time to nurse his feelings and withdraw into himself. Coming out again practically overnight was nothing short of a miracle.

However, in the process of researching, Remus had come across something completely unexpected. Buried in a tome entitled _The Modern Wizard Psyche_ was a section on wandless magic and, in particular, special abilities. Remus was aware that wizards occasionally had particularly extraordinary powers over and above their usual everyday magic, but what the book had to say on the matter came as a bit of a shock.

Apparently, the tests that wizards had been using for centuries to determine magical potential had one flaw: they weren't very good at detecting a person's potential for wandless magic. This was only discovered after Squibs began turning up with abilities that, by magical standards, they shouldn't have had. Psychic ability, proficiency in Herbology or Potions, and healing were among the most common abilities.

Some of these Squibs had been living and working quite happily among Muggles, and their abilities were written off as, at the most, oddities. But now and again, people had to wonder if a doctor's "magic touch" had a bit of real magic in it.

The thing that really caught Remus's attention, however, was the part about healers. According to the book, the most common trait of healers was the ability to heal someone more quickly than medicine and magic combined. Most healers specialized in physical ailments but some, it seemed, were able to heal emotional problems, as well.

The problem was that healing powers didn't always manifest themselves in obvious ways. A healer could easily be mistaken as someone who was merely calm or sensitive, especially by Muggles. But a healer's calmness was part of the power of their healing. By sharing this calmness with others, a healer could ease both physical and emotional pain, resulting in faster, more stable recovery for a patient.

The first thing that all of this brought to Remus's mind was Aidan. The boy certainly was calm; the fact that he'd taken the existence of the wizarding world in stride was evidence of that. And he'd continued to be nothing but calm in the face of Harry's problems. That in itself wasn't necessarily unusual, but coupled with the fact that Harry had made such a quick recovery, it seemed a bit strange.

Remus sighed and set the book aside. He felt a bit silly speculating; if Aidan did have any powers, they would have shown up long ago. What mattered was that Harry was fine and that Aidan had adjusted well to spending the summer at Grimmauld Place.

"Why does Mum always insist on cooking dinner when there's a crowd?" Ron grumbled to himself as he set the table. McGonagall, Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, and Tonks were coming back from some Order business that evening, and Snape was already in the house, making an extremely smelly potion in the basement.

Harry stuck his head into the kitchen. "Hey Ron, ready to play chess yet?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded, tossing the last plate haphazardly onto the table, "As long as we're as far away from the basement as possible."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. Sometimes I wonder why anyone allowed Snape to set up his potions junk in the basement."

"Beats me," Ron shrugged, "Let's play."

Remus came into the kitchen as Harry and Ron were going out. His mind was still a bit preoccupied with the research he'd done the previous day, and he sat down at the table and toyed absently with a spoon. A second later, he dropped it with an exclamation of surprise.

"Someone must've set the table with silver again," he muttered, getting up. He grabbed the dishcloth out of the sink to shield his hand with. He was going about re-setting one of the places at the table with cutlery that wasn't silver when Aidan came in.

"Um, what are you doing?" Aidan asked, raising an eyebrow. He seemed more confused than surprised.

"Er," Remus stammered, trying to think of a good explanation and failing. Aidan cast a glance over the table and frowned slightly.

"Oh, silver," he said, "Nasty."

The comment caught Remus off-guard. "What?"

"I don't like silver cutlery," Aidan replied, "Tastes like licking the inside of a tin can."

"Never licked a tin can myself," Remus said lightly, trying to change the subject. He suddenly felt very self-conscious. Although it wasn't the first time that he had to re-set the table, everyone in Grimmauld Place was used to it. But to Aidan, it must have looked very strange to see a grown man picking up silverware with a dishcloth as if it was going to bite him.

However, if Aidan thought this odd, he didn't show it. He simply re-set a second place for himself and left the kitchen without further comment. After a moment, he stuck his head back in.

"By the way, I'm going to Hermione's for a bit. We'll be back in time for dinner."

Remus nodded. "You'll want to be on time; Molly's picky about that."

Aidan laughed. "Right. See you later."

"Professor Lupin! Profes – er, Remus! Remus!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Remus exclaimed, hurrying to the bedroom door and pulling it open. Hermione burst into the room in a stream of incoherent, frantic babble.

"Whoa, whoa, Hermione, slow down," Remus put a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to compose herself.

"Aidan and I were trading stuff again," she explained, "And he wanted to borrow some of my books on werewolves, and I didn't know how to tell him he couldn't without it sounding weird."

"Oh," Remus blew out a breath; from the way Hermione had been freaking out, he'd thought it was something much more urgent. "That's not a big deal, you know; trying to cut him off from it would be suspicious."

"That's not all," Hermione shook her head, "He already had _Wizards and Lycanthropy._"

"So?" Remus asked, puzzled.

"So I wanted to borrow that from him, but he said I couldn't because he'd swiped it from Snape!" Hermione exclaimed, sounding near tears.

Remus blinked. This was the first he'd heard of Aidan having a particular interest in werewolves. And, as far as he knew, there weren't any books on lycanthropy in the house, unless they were buried in Sirius's old things. Suddenly discovering that Snape had one that had somehow ended up in Aidan's possession wasn't comforting in the least.

"He caught me re-setting the table earlier," Remus murmured distantly, suddenly extremely preoccupied with the implications of what Hermione had told him.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"The only thing I could think of was to act like nothing unusual was going on," Remus replied a little sheepishly.

"Oh God, I just hope he didn't think it was weird!" Hermione looked so stressed that Remus was prompted to ask,

"Is there something going on that I don't know about?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. It's just that…well, Aidan's so perceptive. I'm worried about what might happen if he starts putting two and two together. And if Snape had something to do with giving him that book…"

"It can't be good, I know," Remus sighed.

"So what do we do?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"I suppose we could keep an eye on Snape," Remus said with a resigned shrug, "But other than that, I don't think there's anything we _can _do that wouldn't qualify as strange."

Hermione blew out a breath. "I guess you're right."

"Thanks for telling me, though," Remus added, "Just try not to worry too much about it."

Hermione nodded and left the room, still looking vaguely worried. Remus shut the door and leaned against it, looking up at the ceiling. Things had been complicated enough already; he wasn't sure he could handle it if it got any worse.

Dinner was a rather crowded affair. Molly Weasley cooked more food than could possibly be eaten, but everyone had a pretty enthusiastic go at it nonetheless.

As usual, Hermione and Aidan spent a good portion of the meal discussing Muggle things that nobody else understood, while the Order chatted as lightly as possible about their business. Eventually, McGonagall remarked on the nasty smell that was still wafting up from the basement, barely masked by the odor of food.

"I've been experimenting," Snape explained vaguely as he cut his meat.

"I can't imagine what with," McGonagall wrinkled her nose, "It's a wonder anyone can breathe in here."

"You know how bad wolfsbane smells when it gets to boiling," Snape replied. Remus's head snapped up and he was instantly on the alert. All he could think of was what Hermione had told him earlier. What _was _Snape up to?

"I can't see why you'd be working with wolfsbane, Severus," Dumbledore remarked. McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him, as if she was surprised at his continuing the conversation.

"As I said, it's an experiment," Snape said, "The current potion, while quite potent, could stand to last a bit longer. Wouldn't you say so, Lupin?"

"What?" Remus asked, startled.

"I said, wouldn't you say that the current version of the wolfsbane potion could stand to last longer?" Snape repeated, the faintest hint of a grin playing around his lips.

Remus narrowed his eyes. Under any other circumstances, he would have told Snape to piss off, but with Aidan at the table he had to be very careful of how he reacted. So he shrugged.

"You know I'm not much good when it comes to potions, Severus," he said mildly, hoping against hope that this would diffuse the conversation.

It didn't. Snape laughed a superior sort of laugh.

"Precisely why I have to think of these things," he said almost gaily, "Someone has to cover your arse."

"That's enough, Severus," Dumbledore chastised, waving a hand. But the damage had been done. Aidan stared at Snape for a long moment. Then, without a word, he got up and left the kitchen. Molly and Arthur Weasley gave each other worried looks over the tops of their glasses, and Hermione, Ron, and Harry glanced tentatively at Remus.

Remus glared at Snape. "I cannot believe you just did that. Even for you, that was pretty damn low."

"Accidents happen," Dumbledore was the one to reply. His false benevolence was so irritating that Remus nearly yelled at him.

"Don't try to tell me that was an accident," he hissed through gritted teeth, "I should have realized the other day that you were up to something. I can't believe that you, the revered Albus Dumbledore, would stoop so low as to partner with Snape."

"Remus," McGonagall tried to intervene, but Remus shook his head.

"No, Minerva, there's nothing you can say. I have to go try and undo this." With that, he got up and left the kitchen, intent on finding Aidan.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the next to leave. All three of them glared at Snape on their way out, and Ron muttered,

"Bastard," under his breath as they passed. Molly was so shocked by the whole affair that she forgot to admonish him.

McGonagall turned to Snape and Dumbledore, her eyes cold.

"Well, I hope you two are happy," she snapped, "Things were working out just fine when you left Remus alone to handle Aidan."

"I would have thought you'd understand, Minerva," Dumbledore said, looking hurt.

"All I understand is that, for some reason, you two are deriving pleasure out of making Remus's life harder than it already is. If you'd stop and think for a moment, you'd realize that what you've just done could have repercussions that none of us can even begin to imagine." McGonagall punctuated her statement by casting a worried look in out the kitchen doorway.

Remus eventually found Aidan in his room, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. He knocked tentatively on the doorframe, worried about how the boy was going to react.

"Can I come in?" he asked quietly. Aidan pushed himself up on his elbow and gave Remus a long, slow look.

"If you must," he sad eventually, laying back down and ignoring Remus as he stepped into the room.

"Look," Remus said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and trying to be calm, "I know you been doing a lot of reading, and –"

"And I've figured you out, big deal," Aidan said sourly. The response was so uncharacteristic that Remus almost didn't know how to reply. But he forged ahead, figuring it was best to get the conversation over with.

"What Snape just did was inexcusable," he said, "I didn't want you to find out this way."

"You'd rather I just figure it out on my own?" Aidan exclaimed, sitting up, "Or you'd rather I not find out at all?"

"I didn't think it was important," Remus said slowly, but Aidan shook his head.

"You could have just told me," he snapped, "After all that stuff about wizards and Squibs, do you really think it would have come as a surprise?"

"It's not something people usually take in stride," Remus explained, "And it's not easy to come out and tell people about it."

"Really now? Seems to me that I'm the only person in the house who didn't know. Was everybody in on this?" Aidan raised his eyebrows, "Hermione? Ron? Harry? Were you all conspiring to keep me in the dark?"

"It's not a conspiracy," Remus replied, his calmness beginning to drain away, "I just didn't think that, since you're only staying here for the summer, you'd really need to know."

"But I'm your _son_," Aidan pressed angrily, "I'd think that would be reason enough for you to tell me."

"Look, if my being a werewolf bothers you this much, then maybe you should just go home," Remus said bitterly.

Aidan shook his head. "It's not that you are one. It's that you didn't tell me. And that's the same as lying."

"No," Remus countered, "This is different. Being a werewolf is no laughing matter; it's a very dangerous and painful condition, and it's not something you tell people about, especially if you value things like friends and employment. Remember you said that there's a difference between lying because you can and lying because you should? We all had enough on our plates with Harry's problems; I didn't see the need to saddle you with anything else."

"Don't you get it?" Aidan shouted, standing up and looking Remus squarely in the eye, "I _don't care_ that you're a werewolf; you could be a bloody boogeyman and we'd be having the same discussion. What exactly is the big deal about telling me? What could I possibly do?"

"You could react like this!" Remus exclaimed, feeling hurt, "I was just trying to make things a little easier."

"Don't justify it," Aidan said shortly, "I don't want to hear it. I even _told _you that I appreciate being told the truth, and you kept this from me anyway."

"Aidan, I –"

"Forget it," Aidan shook his head and stormed out of the room, leaving Remus to stare after him in utter bewilderment.

Aidan stalked down the hallway, seething. The colors of his own emotions flashed in front of his eyes and he waved a hand angrily as if they were tangible clouds he could disperse.

He'd barely been in the house two weeks. He felt that he should have known something was wrong, especially with the red streak he'd seen around Remus. He should have listened to his instincts and asked more questions. But what would he have asked? Up until a couple of days ago, he had no idea that werewolves were real, much less that he could be living under the same roof as one.

He should have seen the signs of the lie. People were always overly careful and wary when they were hiding something. It seemed as though Remus had been neither of these things, but Aidan had seen something of them in Hermione that evening, when he'd asked to borrow some of her books on lycanthropy. She was definitely unnerved by his request, although she'd tried her best not to show it. The fact that she hadn't refused him the books had caused him to brush off the feelings.

But, a more rational part of his brain was telling him that he should have seen that Snape was plotting something. The fact that the man had so blatantly left a book on werewolves sitting on the table was evidence enough. But Aidan had been lost in his reading and had considered the book just another source of information without regarding where – or who – it had come from.

The fact was, Snape had been baiting him all along, and Aidan knew it. But he was so angry with Remus for keeping the secret from him that he couldn't think straight enough to see that some of the blame fell elsewhere. He stalked downstairs and out into the unkempt backyard of Grimmauld Place, intent on being alone.

"But Harry, you have to do _something_! You heard what Remus said; Aidan won't listen to him!"

"Hermione, what makes you think he'll listen to me?" Harry asked in exasperation. He, Ron, and Hermione were upstairs in his bedroom, and Hermione had been haranguing him for the past ten minutes.

"You're his brother," Hermione said insistently.

"Half-brother," Harry reminded her, "And even so, it's not like we know each other that well."

"But he helped you. All I'm saying is that maybe it's your turn to help him." Hermione's gaze was so pleading that Harry sighed.

"All right," he conceded, "Maybe I can do something. But I'm not promising any miracles."

"Just…try," Hermione said quietly. She seemed extremely distressed by the whole affair, which Harry found kind of strange. He felt that he should have been the one feeling distressed; Aidan _was _his half-brother, after all. But Harry had no idea what he could say to calm the person who had, up until that evening, been calmest one in the household.

Nevertheless, he found himself wandering around outside a short time later, trying to find where Aidan had gone. It was difficult to navigate the largely neglected back lawn, but Harry eventually came out of the tangled vegetation at the edge of a pond that was, surprisingly, clear and calm.

Aidan was there, sitting among the tall grass on the bank and throwing stones into the water. He was gazing into the middle distance, occupied with his own thoughts. Harry approached him cautiously and sat down next to him, saying nothing. Eventually, Aidan glanced at him and said,

"I suppose you're going to tell me that I shouldn't be angry."

"Honestly? I don't know what to tell you," Harry replied, crossing his legs out in front of him and leaning back in the grass, "Because I'm not really sure what's wrong."

For a moment, Aidan continued to stare out over the water. Then he drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, suddenly seeming very young.

"My father is a werewolf," he said softly.

Harry nodded. "Yes."

"And he didn't tell me."

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Harry said. He was thinking of the year that Remus had been a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.

"What reasons?" Aidan asked, shaking his head, "What reasons could there be for keeping something like that from me?"

"Look, I have no idea how your family treated touchy subjects, but being a werewolf isn't something that you sit down and discuss over a cup of tea," Harry replied, "Remus isn't open about it; he was pretty upset when Hermione first found out about it in our third year of school."

"That's the thing, though," Aidan countered, "Hermione knew. You knew. Hell, even Snape knew. I was the only person walking around clueless."

"If it's any consolation, Snape found out by accident when he and Remus were kids," Harry explained, "Remus certainly didn't tell him. And Hermione, Ron, and I knew because…well, long story short, Hermione's good at figuring stuff out." He sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not something you can get Remus to tell you voluntarily."

"What's the big deal?" Aidan asked in frustration. Harry looked at him, surprised, then slowly came to the realization that Aidan really did have no idea why lycanthropy was such a big deal. Why should he? Muggles had basically turned the whole thing into horror films and sensationalism, and the textbooks Aidan had been reading probably didn't deal with the social problems that werewolves faced. Harry took a deep breath before trying to explain.

"Werewolves are essentially creatures of darkness," he said slowly, "And people wont' readily accept one even if he is a nice person. And, up until the wolfsbane potion was discovered, werewolves had no way to control their condition. So, for most of his life, Remus had it pretty tough. The only reason he was able to go to Hogwarts was that Dumbledore made special arrangements for him. If anyone else had known, there probably would have been an uproar."

Aidan thought about this.

"So there's a major social stigma attached," he said at last.

Harry nodded. "It's like a curse. Most people don't want to get t know a werewolf even though he's human most of the time. It's like…knowing who you are, but nobody wants to hear it."

"And Remus was afraid I'd turn on him if I found out," Aidan sighed, "And that's exactly what I did. I walked straight into the trap Snape was baiting and acted like a jerk."

"So go apologize," Harry suggested, "Remus will understand."

Aidan looked out over the water again. "You're probably right. My dad's been nothing but nice to me; the least I can do is try to fix this mess."

He got up, and Harry blew out a breath in relief. He'd expected his talk with Aidan to be more volatile, but he'd gotten through it okay and, hopefully, the craziness was over.


	6. Healing

**Chapter 6 – Healing**

Remus sat on his bed and stared at the wall.

Everything had been going so well. Aidan had adjusted, made friends, and seemed generally happy, but now…now all of that had suddenly slipped away because of Snape's meddling.

Of course, Remus knew, it could all have been avoided if he'd just been up front with Aidan in the first place. Hadn't Sirius even warned him? Granted that had been in a dream, but it was probably what Sirius would have said if he was alive.

But that was the problem: Sirius _wasn't _alive. If he had been, he would have spent his time coaxing Remus to be honest with Aidan and assuring him that everything would be all right. He would have been supportive and slightly crazy, just like he'd been since they were kids. But he was dead, and, consequently, Remus had spent much of his time and strength trying to support himself.

It should have been easier; he'd done it for twelve years after the Potters had died and he'd believed that Sirius was responsible. But somehow, after getting his best friend back and losing him all over again, things were harder. He'd come to rely on Sirius's quiet sort of friendship and occasional advice. And, despite the comings and goings of the Order, the house still seemed empty without Sirius roaming around, humming to himself and arguing with his mother's portrait.

Remus's vision blurred and he passed a hand angrily over his eyes. Now wasn't the time to break down and cry. He'd been holding together just fine, and there was no reason to start going to pieces over something he couldn't change.

But then again, he hadn't had time to mourn, not properly, anyway. There had been things to do after Sirius's death, and then the whole business with Harry had occupied everyone. There hadn't been very much quiet time to just sit and reflect.

And now, suddenly, he had all the time in the world. It stretched out before him and slowly began to fill with the pain of his grief. He could fight it no longer. With a strangled sob, Remus let the wave of sorrow take him.

When Aidan came upstairs ten minutes later, he found Remus curled up on the bed, staring at the wall as tears ran silently down his cheeks. It was far from what Aidan had expected; in fact, after their earlier argument, he'd thought Remus would be angry. He sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed and laid a hand on Remus's arm.

"Remus, what's wrong?" he asked. When Remus didn't reply, he added, "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't realize how big a deal the lycanthropy thing is in the wizarding world, and I can't blame you for not wanting to talk about it. And I don't want you to think I would shut you out because of it."

But, even as he spoke, Aidan realized that the argument he'd had with Remus wasn't the problem. Before his eyes, a cloud of deep blue shimmered into being around Remus, muting the usual yellow color and entirely drowning out the red streak. Remus wasn't even close to angry; in fact, he was buried somewhere in the dark depths of hopelessness.

Suddenly, he stirred, drawing the back of his hand across his eyes and pushing the hair out of his face, but he stayed turned towards the wall.

"This isn't about our fight, is it," Aidan stated needlessly. He didn't know what else to say. Seeing Remus so upset was unsettling.

Slowly, Remus shook his head, still not looking at Aidan.

"No," he said quietly, his voice hoarse from crying, "This has nothing to do with you."

"Then what's going on?" Aidan inquired gently. He could feel the sadness pouring off Remus now, like a blast of winter air. What could have happened to change the man's mood so quickly?

Aidan's eyes traveled around the room as he thought. His gaze came to rest on Remus's lunar chart, and it hit him. Almost as if he was reading Aidan's thoughts, Remus drew a shaky breath and whispered,

"Sirius isn't coming back."

The statement was saturated with more pain that Aidan could have imagined. He knew that Remus missed Sirius, both by the way Remus reacted to talk about his friend and from things Harry had said. But, as Remus rarely talked about himself, it had been impossible to tell just how much he was suffering.

"I know," Aidan said finally. He had been about to say, "You have to let him go," but somehow the words he'd said to Harry in the same situation didn't seem appropriate. Remus's sadness was completely different; it held none of the anger that Harry's had. At a loss for anything else to do, Aidan leaned over and gave Remus a hug.

"It'll be okay, Dad," he said quietly.

Remus turned his head, surprised. "You just called me 'Dad'."

Aidan nodded. "That's who you are. You're my dad, and I'm your son, and we need to be there for each other. So, I'm sorry for being stupid before."

"It's not your fault," Remus replied, shaking his head, "Snape was being nasty, and I have no idea what's going on with Dumbledore. Anyway, I should have just told you. Then all of this could have been avoided."

Aidan gave Remus a critical look. "You really miss Sirius, don't you?"

Remus glanced over his shoulder at the lunar chart and nodded.

"Yes," he whispered, "Yes, I do." He sat up and rested his chin in his hands, staring vaguely at the opposite wall.

"He was my best friend, you know," he added quietly.

"I gathered, yes," Aidan nodded.

"He was an argumentative, egotistical, angry bastard," Remus sighed, "And I miss him like crazy. He was the only friend I had left; we supported each other."

"It's tough to find friends like that. Lord knows I've never had any," Aidan said with a short laugh.

"Well, I doubt there's anyone quite like Sirius out there," Remus smiled wanly, "Not any more, at any rate."

Aidan heard the pain creeping back into Remus's voice and put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"It'll be okay," he said as reassuringly as he could, "Everything's been working out; this will, too."

And, somehow, Remus felt batter. Aidan's words, simple as they were, touched him on some level that needed to be reached. He felt his sorrow lift, and, for the first time in months, he began to feel stable. He looked at Aidan, impressed.

"There's something I was reading that I have to show you," he said, reaching for a book that was on the bedside table.

Dumbledore paced impatiently back and forth across the basement.

"Surely he should have gone by now?"

"Patience, Albus," said Snape from his workbench, "Rage takes time to set in properly."

"You would know, wouldn't you, Severus?" Dumbledore remarked coolly. Snape ignored him.

"Besides, Lupin's son isn't impractical," he pointed out, "He'd pack before leaving."

"He's too calm," Dumbledore said, "It worries me."

"You should know as well as anyone that an outward calm can hide a lot of things," Snape replied. Dumbledore glared at him over the top of his spectacles.

"Be that as it may, Severus, I don't want this to fail," he said darkly, "It's obvious now that we were up to something, and we won't get another chance."

"I'm hurt by your lack of faith in me," Snape said mildly, not looking the least bit upset, "Especially since you sought me out for this little endeavor. Muggles are petty and suspicious by nature; all I had to do was play on that. And I'm telling you that it will work."

"I've known you long enough to realize that taking you at your word is not something to be done lightly," Dumbledore said.

"And you wouldn't have asked for my help if you thought I would fail," Snape countered, "And do stop pacing; you're disturbing my test tubes."

"So you think I could be a healer?" Aidan asked after he'd read the chapter Remus had presented to him.

"It's definitely possible," Remus nodded, "You said you see the colors; according to the book, that alone is a pretty clear indicator."

"So that's how Harry recovered so fast," Aidan murmured, half to himself.

"It very well could be," Remus agreed.

"Whew," Aidan blew out a breath and shook his head, "Talk about a dose of humility."

"Hey, in order for magic to work, you have to put something into it," Remus said.

Aidan sat for a moment, still shaking his head as he took everything in. It made sense in some strange way. Ever since he could remember, he'd been sensitive and calm, and that was usually why his adoptive parents were worried about him. And as for the colors…it was a relief to finally have an explanation for them.

"But why now?" he asked suddenly, "Why, after years of there being no signs, is this stuff showing up?"

Remus shrugged. "My guess would be because you're spending time in a highly magical and emotional environment."

"I guess that makes sense," Aidan looked at the wall absently for a moment. Then he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Remus asked in surprise.

"I have a feeling that Dumbledore isn't going to be happy about this," Aidan replied between chuckles.

Remus couldn't help but laugh a little himself. "You're probably right."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I've had enough for one night," Aidan said, getting up, "I'm going to sleep on this."

Remus nodded. "We can talk more in the morning, if you'd like."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Aidan agreed before leaving the room and closing the door gently behind him.

Morning was extremely noisy. Aidan was awakened by the sound of raised voices coming from the kitchen. He pulled on his dressing gown and wandered downstairs sleepily to investigate.

He found Harry and Snape screaming at each other so loudly that what they were saying was practically incoherent. Tonks was standing in the kitchen doorway, staring at them as if they'd gone crazy. Aidan quietly navigated around her and stood a safe distance away from the argument, trying to figure out what was going on.

A haze of red surrounded Harry and Snape as they argued. Aidan couldn't help but notice how much darker the red was around Snape than around Harry. Harry seemed upset, but Snape was furious. Even without the colors, Aidan would have seen that; a vein in Snape's forehead was pulsing, and he was all but foaming at the mouth as he yelled. After a moment, Aidan was able to discern a sentence here and there.

"I told you that if you messed with anybody, there would be trouble!" Harry was saying.

"Damn you, Potter, can't you ever leave well enough alone?" Snape shot back.

"Not when it's my family! You've always hated my family, I get that, but that doesn't give you a license to ruin Remus's life, as well!" Harry shouted, waving his hands emphatically.

"What goes on between me and other members of the Order is none of your business," Snape sneered.

"Oh yeah? And whose business is it? Yours? Dumbledore's?" Harry spat Dumbledore's name with a surprising amount of sarcasm.

"Certainly not yours, Potter!" Snape exclaimed, his eyes gleaming nastily. Aidan got the impression that it was taking all of the man's strength not to reach out and slap Harry.

"Well you know what?" Harry shot back, "If Sirius was here, it'd be his business, because Remus was his best friend. But he's _not _here, so somebody has to stand up and point out how stupid and petty this whole thing was!"

"And since when is justice _your _job, Potter? Black didn't die and make you man of the house, that's for sure."

"It's my job because you messed with my _brother_!" Harry screamed, "You're a nasty, petty, stupid bastard! We've all gone through hell lately, and I, for one, am not going to take any more of your shit!"

"Why you little…" Snape's self-control failed and he reached for his wand, eyes blazing. Harry pulled out his own wand in defense. Aidan could only guess what was about to happen, and he lunged forward without thinking.

"Oh my God!" Tonks exclaimed, snapping out of whatever trance the argument had put her in. Remus appeared beside her in the doorway just in time to see Aidan kick Snape in the kneecap and drag Harry out of the range of the man's wand.

"Let me go!" Harry exclaimed, "He deserves to get the crap kicked out of him!"

"Whoa, Harry, calm down!" Aidan soothed, "I agree, but that doesn't mean you should actually do it. He could really hurt you."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Remus exclaimed as Snape picked himself up off the floor, groaning quietly.

"Don't know, Dad," Aidan replied, still trying to restrain Harry, "I walked in on the middle of it."

"Wait, 'Dad'?" Harry looked up at Aidan, "You're not mad anymore?"

Aidan shook his head. "No. Things are fine."

"Wonderful. Just bloody brilliant," Snape muttered, rubbing his knee theatrically and glaring at Aidan, "If everything is 'just fine', then why has Potter taken it upon himself to be the Lupin family watchdog?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh, do shut up, Severus. It seems that everything's under control, and some of us enjoy not having heartburn before breakfast. So if you don't want any toast, I suggest you go back to the basement and stop antagonizing people."

Snape glared at Remus, the vein in his forehead pulsing again, but he said nothing. After a moment, during which Remus returned Snape's gaze as calmly as he could, Snape spun around and strode to the basement, robes billowing out behind him before he slammed the door. A moment later, a muffled curse was heard, and everyone in the kitchen had to restrain their laughter as Snape opened the basement door again in order to extract the corner of his robes.

"Now maybe we can have a normal meal," Remus commented, heading for the toaster.

"Normal? Here? With someone like Tonks around?" Aidan asked with a smile. Tonks had settled herself at the table and was trying to decide on a hair color for the day.

"Better than having Severus around," Remus replied.

"That's for sure," Harry agreed.

Remus and Aidan returned to the subject of healers over breakfast. Hermione showed up with the Weasleys partway through the discussion and joined in with enthusiasm. By the end of the meal, it was generally agreed that, as a healer, Aidan fit the bill.

"It makes sense, you know?" said Harry, "You're a very peaceful person. Things tend to calm down when you're around."

"In the purely immediate sense, perhaps," Aidan commented, thinking of Snape and Dumbledore.

"Long-term, as well," Remus added, "In Harry's case, especially."

Aidan thought about this for a moment.

"All right," he said eventually, "What kind of practical application does a power like that have? I mean, other than being a doctor?"

"Well, there's always a place like St. Mungo's, the wizard hospital," Hermione replied, "A lot of the people who end up there have really bizarre injuries or side effects from magic, and using more wand-based magic on them only makes it worse."

"And, as we've seen, it can come in handy in everyday life," Remus pointed out.

"Hmm," Aidan murmured, "I'm going to have to think about this." He said no more on the subject and was quiet for most of the rest of the day.

That afternoon, while Remus was dozing, he dreamed of Sirius yet again. This time, they were back in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, and Sirius was standing by the window while Remus sat at the table with a cup of tea.

"I'm proud of you, Moony," Sirius said quietly.

"For what?" Remus asked in surprise. Even for a dream, this seemed like a strange way to start a conversation.

"You've gone through a lot in the past couple of weeks," Sirius replied, keeping his back to Remus as he spoke, "And you've handled it well."

"I wouldn't call having a fight with my son and then breaking down handling things well," Remus said with a short laugh.

"But everything worked out all right," Sirius insisted, "It could have been a lot worse, considering Snivellus was meddling with you two."

"I suppose you're right," Remus nodded. Then, "What about you?"

Sirius half-turned in surprise. "What _about _me?"

"Are things all right with you?" Remus asked, surprising himself.

"You know how things are with me, Moony," Sirius replied darkly, turning back to the window.

Remus set his teacup down. He knew that tone.

"I'm really not going to see you again, am I?" he said, giving the back of Sirius's head a critical look.

Sirius shook his head slowly. "You've moved on, Moony, and so should I."

"Everybody misses you, Padfoot," Remus said slowly.

"I know," Sirius said, "But things are the way they are. You're doing just fine, and I have to go wherever it is I'm supposed to go next."

There was silence for a moment, and Remus sat looking at Sirius's back as the other man continued to stare out the window. As much as he wanted to get up and give Sirius a final hug, Remus knew it wasn't a good idea, even though the whole thing was a dream. There was a definite air of finality in the room, and a wrong move could upset that.

Finally, Remus said, "Good luck, Padfoot."

"Thanks, Moony." And, for the first time in the dream, Sirius turned around completely and smiled at Remus.

And that was it. The dream faded as others took its place, and Remus had no more of the kind. It seemed that, in a sense, both he and Sirius really had moved on.


	7. Squib

**Chapter 7 – Squib**

As the summer wore on, Remus kept expecting Aidan to bring up the subject of healers again. But, after several relatively normal weeks, it became clear that it wasn't going to happen. In fact, as with everything else, Aidan seemed to have taken it in stride and was now concentrating on enjoying his summer now that the rough patches were over.

Snape and Dumbledore, while far from happy, seemed to have given up trying to drive Remus and Aidan apart. As far as Remus could tell, Dumbledore had resigned himself to having Aidan around the house for the entire summer as was originally planned, and Snape spent most of his time either out with the Order or shut in the basement.

Aidan spent much of his time with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but he also began to encourage Remus to get out of the house, mostly to take walks. The two of them spent many quiet hours roaming the grounds of Grimmauld Place, sometimes even in the rain if they were feeling particularly adventurous.

During these walks, Aidan would sometimes talk about the Wintertons, and Remus would offer a bit here and there about his work in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but generally they walked in silence. Remus began to realize that one of the things he liked most about his son was the boy's ability to thoroughly enjoy something without having to say a word. Most people made too much noise about everything; Aidan didn't, and it was a refreshing difference.

Harry continued to be generally upbeat. After a while, he began to talk about Sirius openly, and to ask questions about him.

"What was Sirius like when he was in school?" he asked one night at dinner when McGonagall, Tonks, Remus, and Aidan were present. McGonagall raised her eyebrows and glanced at Remus, but Remus nodded. Seeing Harry talk about Sirius without being upset was a relief as well as a major milestone.

"Well," McGonagall cleared her throat, "Despite an inherent inability to remain celibate, he was a good student."

Harry paused with his fork halfway to his mouth and blinked, then returned to his food without asking anything else. Remus had to cover his face with his hands to keep from laughing out loud.

"I think that was a little more than he wanted to know, Minerva," he chuckled from behind his fingers.

And then, quite suddenly, the last week of summer was looming, and as Harry, Ron, and Hermione began to talk excitedly about another year at Hogwarts, Remus began to think about Aidan's return home.

The boy had changed; there was no doubt about that. He was more open with everyone in the house than he had been at the start of his visit, and he often spent his afternoons in the kitchen talking to people instead of sitting in his room with one of Hermione's CDs. But when it came to the subject of healers, Aidan was still strangely quiet.

At breakfast the morning before Aidan was supposed to leave, Remus decided to talk to him about it. Therefore, he was quite surprised when Aidan was the one to bring it up.

"I've been thinking a lot about this healer thing," the boy said as he buttered his toast.

"Oh?" was all Remus could think of to say in reply.

Aidan nodded. "I didn't want to say anything until I'd thought it through, you know? It's a pretty big deal, all things considered."

"Have you thought about –" Remus began, then paused, wondering if he should ask the question.

"I've thought about a lot of things," Aidan said with half a smile, "But what were you going to say?"

"Well, I don't know if this is jumping the gun, but have you thought about the possibility of staying here?" The thought had occurred to Remus about a week before, and, although he wasn't sure how Aidan would take it, he believed that the boy could do a lot of good in the wizarding world.

Aidan sat for a moment, chewing his toast thoughtfully. Then he nodded.

"Yeah, I did think about that. But," he shrugged, "It doesn't seem practical. I don't really belong here."

"You have friends here," Remus pointed out. However, he got the impression that, whatever conclusion Aidan had come to, it was pointless to try and change his mind.

"And family," Aidan agreed, giving Remus a long look, "But…well, take what Hermione said a while ago, about St. Mungo's. Maybe I _could _do something in a place like that, but let's face it, I don't know enough about magic to feel comfortable trying to treat magical problems. I grew up in the Muggle world, and that's what I'm familiar with. Muggles have their fair share of problems without magic and I think I'd be better off sticking to those.

"And look at all the trouble Snape and Dumbledore went through to try and get me to go home. If I stay here, they'll always be breathing down my neck and, while I don't want to give them the satisfaction of thinking they've won on some level, I'd much rather not have to beat them down every couple of weeks."

Remus laughed at the mental image of Snape and Dumbledore being "beaten down". What Aidan was saying made sense. When it really came down to it, the boy was a Muggle, and Lord knew that Muggles could use all the help they could get. But somewhere in the back of Remus's mind, he was a little sad that Aidan would be returning home. Despite the fact that he hadn't seen his son grow up, Remus felt that the two of them had become relatively close over the summer.

"Well, we'll miss you," he said finally.

"It's not like I can't visit again," Aidan said, grinning, "With any luck, my parents will stop treating me like glass and I'll be able to have free reign of the car once and a while."

Remus laughed. "That would be nice."

"I'd better go start packing," Aidan added, getting up, "Knowing me, if I don't get to it now, I'll be shoving things in suitcases last-minute tomorrow morning."

"I'll give you a hand," Remus offered.

"Thanks, Dad."

Arthur Weasley breezed in the next morning, apologizing profusely that the only car he'd been able to find belonged to the Ministry of Magic.

"And they weren't happy about it," he said, shaking his head, "Fudge himself nearly told me to piss off. Said they need the cars for more important things these days."

"I don't doubt it, but as we're only borrowing it for the morning, he'll have to get over it," Remus replied. He was sitting at the kitchen table, reading and drinking tea while he waited for Aidan get the last of his things together.

Arthur was about to reply when Dumbledore came in. He sat down at the table across from Remus and cleared his throat.

"I trust you have everything prepared for Aidan's return home?" he asked less than graciously.

"Yes, thank you, Albus," Remus replied, not looking up from his book.

"And he's ready to go home, I assume?" Dumbledore continued.

"Aside from whatever he's packing now, yes," Remus said.

"And his parents are expecting him?"

"You do realize that none of this is your business, Albus?" Remus returned calmly, "Aidan's been planning on leaving today since the beginning of the summer, and he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself. As for the Wintertons, they're probably glued to their front door. In fact, they'd probably have had heart attacks if Aidan had decided to stay here."

Dumbledore sputtered, and Remus grinned to himself behind his book. It was nice to be able to answer Dumbledore's incessant questions with just a little too much information.

Upstairs, meanwhile, Aidan was tossing the last of his things into his duffel bag. Hermione was sitting on the bed, looking through a stack of books, getting ready for their final swap of the summer.

"Are there any other DADA books you wanted to read?" she asked, "Or are you done with that?"

"If you have any, I'll take them," Aidan replied, tossing a few paperback fantasy novels onto the bed, "Here's the Terry Pratchett you wanted."

"Ooh, thanks." Hermione picked up the books and flipped through them.

"Honestly, are you two still up to that swapping stuff?" Ron asked, appearing in the doorway with Harry.

"Yes," Hermione replied, pushing a few books across the bed to Aidan.

"Novels I can understand, but textbooks?" Ron raised his eyebrows incredulously.

"Not exactly stuff I can get back home," Aidan said with a grin as he packed the DADA books. "There, all set."

"Aidan, do you have a minute?" Remus's called from downstairs.

"And not a moment too soon," Aidan chuckled, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, "I'm going to go see what my dad wants, then I'm headed off."

"Write a _lot_," Harry commanded, grinning.

"Of course," Aidan nodded. He put an arm around Harry's shoulders and gave his half-brother a hug. "I'll visit when I can."

"You'd better," Hermione warned with false severity, "We still have a lot of trading to do."

Aidan laughed. "All right, all right, I'll see how soon I can commandeer my parents' car. Until then, though, I promise I'll write."

"See you, then," said Harry, returning Aidan's hug.

"'Bye."

Remus was waiting in the kitchen when Aidan came downstairs.

"I got you something," he said, "Sort of a practical gift, you might say."

"You didn't have to do that," Aidan objected, but Remus shook his head.

"Yes, I did, especially if you want to be able to write to people." He pointed to the table, where there was a small, golden cage. Inside the cage sat a tiny owl, staring out at Remus and Aidan with bright, round eyes. Aidan laughed.

"That's the smallest owl I've ever seen," he commented, going over to peer at the little bird.

"Sirius used to call them 'lifelines', but they're just a kind of express owl," Remus explained, "Too small to carry any packages, but just right for letters and things."

"Wow, thanks Dad," Aidan smiled, "Does he have a name?"

"Not yet," Remus shook his head.

"I think I'll call him Squib," Aidan said, stroking the owl between the bars of the cage. The bird hooted.

"I'm assuming that's a joke of some kind?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Muggles use the word 'squib', too, you know," Aidan replied, "Only it refers to a small explosive device."

Remus laughed. "That's appropriate. Wait until you see him fly."

"If he's that fast, I'll write all the time," Aidan said, standing up and hoisting his duffel bag again, "Ready to go?"

Remus nodded. "I'll get the keys from Arthur and we can head out. "

The drive to the Wintertons was upbeat and involve quite a bit of chocolate. By the time Remus approached the house, Aidan was in such a good mood that he wasn't even annoyed to see that his adoptive parents were already standing outside the door. They were trying to look as though they were merely enjoying the outdoors, but Aidan knew they were waiting for him.

As Remus pulled in, Aidan saw his parents' eyes widen at the sight of the car, which was black with Ministry of Magic insignia on the doors. It was a far cry from the modest vehicle that Remus had arrived in at the start of the summer, and Aidan nearly laughed at the thought of what must be going through his parents' minds.

"Well, here we are," Remus said as he parked, "Need any help carrying things in?"

"No thanks," Aidan replied, "Plus I don't think you want to be bombarded with questions about the summer."

"What exactly are you going to tell you parents about the summer, by the way?" Remus wanted to know.

"As little as possible, hopefully," Aidan said with a grin. Then, "I'll miss you, Dad." He leaned over and gave Remus a hug, which Remus returned, slightly surprised.

"I'll miss you, too, Aidan."

The hug lasted a moment longer before Aidan pulled away and got out of the car, carefully supporting Squib's cage as he did so. He gathered his things from the back seat and went up the walk, looking over his shoulder and waving to Remus as he did so. He didn't turn back around to face his parents until Remus had pulled out of the driveway and was heading up the road.

"Welcome back, Aidan!" Mrs. Winterton exclaimed when Aidan had reached the door. She was about to hug him when she noticed the cage in his hand.

"This is Squib," Aidan said before she could ask, "He's a postal owl."

And, with that, he went calmly past his parents and into the house.

THE END


End file.
